Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are keeping close watch on todays election results‚ with first exit-poll data coming at 5pm ET (a key time-point that everyoneʼs waiting for)
The exit-poll system works in a three-fold way: it checks in-person voting at hundreds of poll-sites‚ early-voting numbers and mail-in ballots (which are double-checked through phone-calls emails and texts)
The survey has about 20 questions that look into voting choices and voter info like:
- Age and gender stats
- Race background
- Reasons for picking candidates
- Voting method used
News teams cant share any poll-data before 5pm ET; they also need to wait for all poll-sites in a state to close before making winner calls. The first batch of exit-poll info isnt always right — it needs some fact-checking because morning voters (who tend to be over-50 and pro-Republican) dont show the full picture
Looking back at past results shows why we should be careful: the 2016 exit-polls said Trump got most white-women votes but real numbers from Pew Research showed its was just 47% — thats a big difference that changed how people saw the election results
The exit-poll data gets fixed many times during election night as more info comes in; its like putting together a puzzle where each new piece makes the picture more clear. The final numbers go through some math-checking that can really change what we thought we knew