On Monday night, hours before the polls in the United States presidential election were to open, a Reuters poll predicted that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has a 90% chance of winning the presidency.
That prediction changed in a hurry on Tuesday night, as polls began to close and it emerged that Republican candidate Donald Trump is headed to the White House.
Trump quickly took a lead in the key swing state of Florida, and while the tally remained close, he was projected to win Florida shortly before 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
The New York billionaire also enjoyed a lead in Ohio, another key state, throughout the night, and was declared the winner in that state as well around 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
Most analysts predicted that if Trump were to lose either of those states, especially Florida, his chances of winning the presidency were slim to none.
270 electoral votes are needed to secure the presidency, and, as of 11:10 p.m. Eastern Time, Trump had 201 electoral votes to Clinton’s 197.
Shortly after 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time, The New York Times said that Trump had a 95% chance of winning the election. This is a sharp turnaround from Monday, when the same newspaper said Clinton had an 80% chance of winning.
Broadcasters are already trying to explain where and why the polls went wrong.
As Arutz Sheva reminded readers yesterday, media bias and repeated polls do not always predict what voters are going to do when push comes to shove. In fact, in the 1948 presidential elections, NY Governor Thomas E. Dewey was considered the shoo-in winning candidate by the polls and by veteran political analysts, including famous analyst Arthur Henning, who had predicted the winner in 4 out of 5 previous elections. On election night, the first post-election issue of the Chicago DailyTribune went to press before all the results were in, with the banner headline DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN. Truman, who won the election, held up the paper at a public appearance afterwards with a broad smile on his face.
The only thing that is sure is that time will tell.
While Clinton has yet to make an official announcement, she tweeted shortly before 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time: “This team has so much to be proud of. Whatever happens tonight, thank you for everything.”