Why Partisans Can’t Read Polls

Posted at 12:15 on November 9, 2012 by Andrew Sullivan
Julian Sanchez explains: Ideally, professional pollsters have no particular agenda beyond accurately forecasting the outcome of a race. But pundits are trying to influence outcomes, and forecasts don’t just predict outcomes, but at least partially help to determine them. There’s plenty of social psychology literature showing bandwagon effects in elections: Voters on the...