# American Elections: Should We Burn the Polls?

1 Opinion November 26, 2020 Stern in the News ![Thomas Philippon Headshot](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/Thomas%20Philippon%20230%20x%20260.jpg?itok=mpcvI7hb) By Thomas Philippon >

The transition to the Biden administration has finally begun, and Washington is slowly returning to normal. However, the aftermath of the November 3 elections will be felt for several years. Both parties seek to interpret the results and understand what went wrong.

The first in the line of sight are the pollsters. Their predictions underestimated the performance of the Republican Party and, to a lesser extent, that of President Trump. But pollsters - like business analysts - get it wrong all the time, and a three or four point error is not much larger than the historical average for poll errors. Why is the debate so intense?

Read the full [*Les Echos* article](https://www.lesechos.fr/idees-debats/cercle/opinion-elections-americaines-faut-il-bruler-les-sondages-1268457).

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*Thomas Philippon is Max L. Heine Professor of Finance.*## More from Thomas Philippon

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