Either national pollsters are in for a serious comeuppance, or readers of 鶹ý are about to ruin their perfect record of correctly predicting presidential election results.
Since 2008, readers have participated in nine surveys asking who they favor in the presidential election. In past years, readers have come close to matching the final tally on election day. In 2008, they favored Barack Obama with 56% of the vote in our last pre-election survey, and he grabbed 53% of the actual tally. In 2012, the president received 59% of the 鶹ý vote, and 52% on election day.
As the chart for the current election cycle shows, readers tilted left for most of it. In our first three surveys, Hillary Clinton got more votes than any other candidate. And her numbers continued to increase right up to our most recent survey, which posted the week beginning Oct. 7. But she was no longer leading. Donald Trump -- who brought in just 23% of the vote in our April survey, in the middle of the primary season -- edged past her with 44% of the 鶹ý vote.
The results remain close to national polls, which at this writing show Trump and Clinton at about 42% and 48%, respectively.
Of course, our surveys are not scientific and only include those readers who choose to participate. They're merely a snapshot of what those readers are thinking.
And for the first time in 鶹ý's 11-year history, they're thinking they want to see a Republican in the White House.