Are pollsters ever right?

November 3, 2026

John Summer

OPINION by JOHN SUMMER

One of the simplest acts of physical humor is to hold out your hand to someone, and extend your finger (preferably your index, not your middle one) and ask them to pull on it.

When they do, you let out a fart.

Now that’s humor.

“Pull my finger.”

Bripppppppp!

Doesn’t get much funnier. Works for my grandchildren anyway.

I know. I know. Immature. Childish. And stupid.

But just watch the cascade of guffaws that roll through the room.

And what is even funnier, is when the pull, is a “poll.” As in “election prediction polls.”

Good grief. Election prediction polls are as rampant as acorns in a wild-hog-infested oak forest. And, as the great Watergate Committee Chair, North Carolina Senator Sam Ervin, said: “Even a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.”

But most of the time they don’t.

Just like pollsters.

You’ve got the typical Washington Post and New York Times polls. And every TV network pundit. And Gallup and Pew and AP and RMG and Quinnipiac….

Everyone thinks they’re Nostradamus.

And almost always, they’re wrong.

It’s been my experience during my time covering the news, that polls, predictions, Edgar Cayce séances…. (look him up, interesting dude), have been off. Sometimes by a lot.

And that’s where we are today, as we await the results from the mid-term elections.

Here’s why.

First, liberals love stats. They’re nerds. They have a penchant for wanting to know how people “feel.” Just like most of those who are attracted to the media, journalism, entertainment…

It’s in their genes. They can’t help themselves. They think they’re saving the world.

And so they create various tests to assure themselves that others think the same way they do. But what they don’t understand, is that some of the “others” don’t buy into that stuff.

And then you get results that aren’t always accurate.

I’ll give you a comparative example.

When I was active in the broadcast news business, after each newscast I would review what we called an “air check”. It was a tape of the newscast. We could critically review our “performance”. Then adjust as needed.

At one (anonymous!) station where I worked, I watched the air check one night and the image quality was awful. The contrast and detail was so extreme, I looked like Richard Speck, the serial killer. (Look him up. Ugly dude).

So I asked the engineer in sub-control what the deal was. He simply said: “But it looks good on the broadcast analyzer.” He never looked at the actual visual monitor. Just the technical readout.

Based on his data, the picture was clear.

Turns out, the broadcast analyzer was broken.

And here’s why most polls are broken from the get-go. Bad, or no, information in…. bad results out. And what does that mean? Ah, grasshopper, it’s the Alfred Hitchcock “MacGuffin” in the mix.

Conservatives have a sense of humor. Liberals don’t. And when you have a silent (but deadly!) sense of humor, you can poke fun at them without them knowing.

And conservatives are pokin’ with the polls.

I know I do. And I know others do the same. We don’t give them the answers they seek. We tweak… both their stats, and their nose.

And then, when the actual results come in, they don’t understand where they went wrong.

And that’s why I think the polls for the midterms are off, as they trend toward “democrats,” (small “d”).

But it takes us common-sense conservatives to make sure they are off. We need to vote, (if you haven’t already). Please vote. Don’t give in to the polls.

Then the finger that gets “pulled”, will be our middle one. And we can let out a massive….

Brrrrrrppppppp!!!!!!

Now that’s humor. Make it happen! I’ll eat a can of baked beans to help us celebrate!

John Summer is a retired television news anchor and Emmy and multi-award winning investigative reporter who is just a regular dude whose family helped settle California and resides here to this day. He doesn’t take much seriously, except his family… and wishes the once Golden State will return. God willing.