Ulrich said:
Yes, I get all that. It's still a pretty funny thing for a guy who has been a professional vote guesser for a long time to throw up his hands and say "I dunno what that means" on the day of the election. Party affiliation and crossover vote is one of the most important and studied metrics there is.
I like Silver's book and I've recommended it before, but I think his bias is creeping into his work more every election cycle. Because of his influence, that means his bias is creeping into much of the polling industry.
Silver lost a lot of credibility with me by deciding to bag on Trafalgar, Rasmussen, RCP, and basically any poll that shows anything positive for Trump while having little to no criticism of some of the crazy Biden polls that said Biden up 17 in Wisconsin for instance. Personally, I think it is mostly about him hating being dunked on in '16 and then Trafalgar having a rough '18 but I don't know how anyone can look at this cycle and think that Trump being on the top of the ticket doesn't change the game significantly.
He also lost some cred by feeding into some of the claims that Biden can only lose if there is fraud nonsense.
It's too bad because I like hearing a Dem pollster perspective I just wish he would be more professional. He's the epitome of an ivory tower liberal snob though.
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
Ronald Reagan