Main content

Why Did The Polls Get it Wrong (Or Did They)?

Hillary Clinton lost the US election despite some polls putting her chances of winning at 99%.

Hillary Clinton lost the US election despite some polls putting her chances of winning at 99%.

In the run up to the vote pollsters spent huge sums of money speaking to thousands of Americans. They were careful to collect the best possible data from representative samples, and they applied their finest statistical minds to analysing the numbers. Yet almost no-one predicted that Donald Trump would win. So 鈥� our question this week 鈥� why did the polls get it so wrong? Our expert witnesses explain why polling is getting harder, and why many pollsters weren鈥檛 鈥� despite that 鈥� very far wide of the mark.

(Photo: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump listen during the town hall debate at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, October 2016. Credit: Getty Images)

Available now

23 minutes

Last on

Sat 3 Dec 2016 22:06GMT
麻豆官网首页入口 World Service except East Asia & News Internet

More episodes

Previous

Why Does Anyone Still Smoke?

Next

Why Do Governments Do Stupid Things?

See all episodes from The Inquiry

Clips

See all clips from Why Did The Polls Get it Wrong (Or Did They)? (2)

Broadcasts

  • Tue 29 Nov 2016 02:06GMT
    麻豆官网首页入口 World Service Americas and the Caribbean
  • Tue 29 Nov 2016 03:06GMT
    麻豆官网首页入口 World Service Online & UK DAB/Freeview only
  • Tue 29 Nov 2016 04:06GMT
    麻豆官网首页入口 World Service East Asia
  • Tue 29 Nov 2016 05:06GMT
    麻豆官网首页入口 World Service Australasia & South Asia only
  • Tue 29 Nov 2016 07:06GMT
    麻豆官网首页入口 World Service East and Southern Africa
  • Tue 29 Nov 2016 09:06GMT
    麻豆官网首页入口 World Service Americas and the Caribbean
  • Tue 29 Nov 2016 15:06GMT
    麻豆官网首页入口 World Service except East and Southern Africa, News Internet & West and Central Africa
  • Tue 29 Nov 2016 20:06GMT
    麻豆官网首页入口 World Service Online, Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East & UK DAB/Freeview only
  • Tue 29 Nov 2016 21:06GMT
    麻豆官网首页入口 World Service East and Southern Africa, East Asia, South Asia & West and Central Africa only
  • Sat 3 Dec 2016 22:06GMT
    麻豆官网首页入口 World Service except East Asia & News Internet

Podcast

  • The Inquiry

    Getting beyond the headlines to explore the forces and ideas shaping the world