By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Nearly all of the polls that tried to predict the presidential election got it wrong.
Illinois State University political science expert Bob Bradley told WJBC’s Susan Saunders the polls have relied so much on phone surveys.
PODCAST: Listen to Susan’s interview with Bradley on WJBC.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with Renner on WJBC.
“Ultimately what this election could spell in an interesting way is the elimination of traditional polling companies,” Bradley said.
One poll consistently predicted a Donald Trump victory. It was done by the Los Angeles Times and the University of Southern California. It was internet-based and placed more emphasis on whether each voter had planned to vote.
“They depended on social media,” Bradley said. “They were looking at Twitter feeds, Instagram, social media sites, and didn’t rely on traditional polls which was basically using the phone. Almost everybody who used traditional polling was off by a lot.”
Bradley added the presidential race showed a dramatic rural-urban split and many rural voters are difficult to poll because of technological limitations.
While Donald Trump tapped into a discontent among Americans that carried him to victory, Bloomington mayor Tari Renner said he doesn’t think all those who called for the change will get what they want.
“I have some concerns that there might even be more disillusionment because there’s a lot of things that most of the things that Trump was, frankly, chest pounding on, he’s not going to be able to do,” Renner said.
Renner told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin Trump’s claim that he will build a wall to close of Mexico will never happen.
Renner added he’s concerned that cuts in federal spending under a Trump administration could lead to less money for Community Development Block Grants which cover the cost of home and building improvements to benefit low- and moderate-income families and neighborhoods.
Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.