The polling industry was wildly mocked on social media as election results rolled in showing dramatically different outcomes than pollsters predicted.
Pollsters were wrong about a number of predictions, including the battleground state of Florida where Joe Biden was expected to win by 2.5 points. Trump ended up winning Florida by 3.5 points, tripling his margin of victory from 1.1 in 2016. The pollsters were off by 5 points, the New York Post reported.
Americans took to social media to vent their frustrations with the jarring differences between what was forecasted and what actually occurred.
Robby Soave, a senior editor at Reason magazine, comically tweeted, “Time to put all the pollsters on a rocket and shoot it into the sun.”
Time to put all the pollsters on a rocket and shoot it into the sun.
— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) November 4, 2020
Gizmodo senior reporter Dell Cameron joined in the taunting, tweeting a made up story of a pollster that was pulled over while driving under the influence: “Yeah, but there was a .05 margin. Trust me, I’m a pollster.”
officer: sir, you just blew a .12, please step out of the vehicle.
me: yeah but there was a .05 margin. trust me, i’m a pollster.
— Dell Cameron (@dellcam) November 4, 2020
The contentious race between President Trump and Democrat candidate Joe Biden aside, Governor Greg Abbott of Texas said the “biggest losers in this election are the pollsters,” adding that they are wrong every election and “should never be believed again.”
Biggest losers in this election are the pollsters.
Every election the get it wrong.
They should never be believed again.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 4, 2020
Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan summarized the confusion surrounded the election with a tweet that stated, “We still don’t know much about this election — except that the media and pollsters blew it again.”
We still don’t know much about this election — except that the media and pollsters blew it again. My column https://t.co/rztvjykWdT
— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) November 4, 2020
The Daily Wire mocked the pollsters failures with a tweet featuring a scene from NBC’s The Office where the characters begin to panic as smoke from a fire pours into their workplace.
Pollsters watching the results come in last night: pic.twitter.com/cXHjUF78W0
— The Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) November 4, 2020
Journalist and podcaster Tim Pool shared an image showing Florida, Iowa, Ohio and Texas, which all leaned heavily toward Trump, labeled as “toss ups.”
“Toss Up”
FIRE THE POLLSTERS pic.twitter.com/GWb9Hg7FsG
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) November 4, 2020
Secret Service agent turned conservative political commentator Dan Bongino called pollsters’ forecasts of a “blue wave” in the Senate “doom and gloom predictions.”
GOP Poised to Retain Senate Majority Despite Pollsters’ Doom and Gloom Predictions https://t.co/s0qH5lJUNv
— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) November 4, 2020