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What Do The U.S. Polls Mean?

As the U.S. election draws near, polls remain close between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Galen Druke, host and producer of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, said polls have always had a degree of uncertainty that is more apparent with close elections.

“If the polls are accurate, this could be the closest election in a century,” Druke said.

Talking to The Briefing, Druke said polls weren’t designed to accurately predict the election, but to “get a sense of what the American public or any public really wants.”

Druke said this was one of the reasons Trump has continued to poll high in America.

“The number one issue that folks say they’re focused on is the economy. And people retrospectively look at the Trump economy and think fondly of it,” he said.

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Polling was especially close in the key battleground states, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia and Arizona.

Druke said Pennsylvania was the “likeliest tipping point state” ahead of the election.

Druke also said that the closeness of this year’s election came from voter partisanship and party loyalty.

“A lot of people are going to vote for the Republican party basically no matter who it is. A lot of people are going to vote for the Democratic party basically no matter who it is.”

By Zack Goutzoulas, a Master of Journalism student at the University of Melbourne.

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