Skip to main content
Texas 2020 Elections

Should you trust political polls going into the 2020 election? That's the wrong question.

Watch The Texas Tribune's co-founder and executive editor, Ross Ramsey, break down what voters need to ask when considering a poll's results.

Republish

Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

Polls are pieces of news to consider and scrutinize in the run-up to an election. Several such surveys this cycle have Democrat Joe Biden ahead or within single digits of President Donald Trump in key battleground states. But after the 2016 race, when Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton despite polls heavily suggesting a Clinton victory, many are hesitant to draw any conclusions about where this year's race stands.

The Texas Tribune’s co-founder and executive editor, Ross Ramsey, says that folks often misconstrue polls as conclusions or predictions, rather than snapshots in time. He argues voters need to be asking a series of questions: What is the margin of error? Who sponsored the poll? Did the pollsters survey enough voters? What happened in the news cycle during that time? Does the poll reflect a larger trend seen across multiple polls?

Watch Ramsey put these polls into perspective.

Wait! We need your help.

More than 2 million people read Texas Tribune articles every month, but only 12,000 of those readers also donate to support the news they count on. Not even 1% of readers! If you are one of the 99% of Texas Tribune readers who hasn’t made a donation before in support of independent Texas news, you can change that today. A small donation makes a big impact.

Our Spring Member Drive is an important time to help our newsroom plan for what resources will be available for them to tackle longer investigations and bigger projects later this year. Texas Tribune journalists need the support of readers to write the articles, take the photographs and create the data visualizations that impact Texans and Texas policy.

We have a goal to have 500 readers become Texas Tribune members during our Spring Member Drive. As the Tribune member community grows, the journalism you read here is better protected. Will you make a donation today to show your support of independent Texas news?

DONATE NOW

Information about the authors

Alana Rocha’s staff photo

Alana Rocha

Director of News Partnerships

Todd Wiseman’s staff photo
Justin Dehn’s staff photo

Learn about The Texas Tribune’s policies, including our partnership with The Trust Project to increase transparency in news.

Explore related story topics

2020 elections