How wrong were the polls in 2016?

[Grumps 3,704]

1 hour ago, homersapien said:

Actually they did, if you only consider the popular vote.

What they didn't do is accurately predict the outcome of the electoral college vote.  As I understand it, that result was by a relatively low number of votes (44k?) distributed in key districts. I'm not sure the precision exists in current methodology to address that scenario. 

But why would I only consider the popular vote when the popular vote has NOTHING to do with who the next president is?

[homersapien 11,453]

13 hours ago, Grumps said:

But why would I only consider the popular vote when the popular vote has NOTHING to do with who the next president is?

Because that is what the polls are measuring - popular opinion.  And you consider them because there is nothing else to consider.

And I wouldn't say the popular vote has nothing to do with electing the president, it's just not the overriding factor, unfortunately.

[Grumps 3,704]

11 hours ago, homersapien said:

Because that is what the polls are measuring - popular opinion.  And you consider them because there is nothing else to consider.

And I wouldn't say the popular vote has nothing to do with electing the president, it's just not the overriding factor, unfortunately.

Are you implying that none of the polls were trying to measure the popular opinion by states to determine which candidate would get each state's electoral votes in order to predict which candidate would win the election and become the next POTUS?