Why Trump defied expectations in Florida

A Trump supporter.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images)

I am not aware of any plausible election model according to which President Trump could have afforded not to win Florida again. Since it now appears that he has done so, it is worth asking why the opposite outcome was widely predicted.

The polling aggregator and ersatz sports website FiveThirtyEight gave Joe Biden a 6-point edge in the Sunshine State as of this morning. Provisional results suggest the former vice president losing 50 to 48, an 8-point difference. If that holds, it's not within the margin of error. It wouldn't even be within the margin of error’s margin of error. Such an embarrassment in a crucial state would be an indictment of the mainstream polling industry.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week. His work has also appeared in First Things, The Spectator of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, and other publications. He is currently writing a biography of the Rev. Montague Summers. He is also a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.