TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2016 STUDENT MEDIA | @THEBATTONLINE
ELECTION DAY 2 0 1 6 The road to Election Day A look back on Donald Trump’s, Hillary Clinton’s paths to the ballot 2015
APRIL 12, 2015: Clinton announces candidacy via a YouTube video JUNE 16, 2015: Trump announces his candidacy during a rally at Trump Tower AUG. 6, 2015: First GOP debate is held in Cleveland
CLINTON
OCT. 13, 2015: First Democratic debate is held in Las Vegas
TRUMP Olivia Adam — THE BATTALION
A look at the projected winners of each state. Information via FiveThirtyEight polling, as of Nov. 7.
AMERICA VOTES TUESDAY, NEW PRESIDENT WEDNESDAY
Local experts say Clinton has slight advantage, but outcome is uncertain By Matt Jacobs @MattJacobs3413
A
fter two years on the campaign trail and as Election Day arrives, the outcome of the 2016 Presidential race is still largely uncertain, according to local experts. The presidential race, which has included many lead changes in the polls, is as close as ever. Local experts say although an outcome
cannot be determined with certainty at this point, a small advantage currently resides with the Hillary Clinton campaign. This latest narrowing in the national polling numbers comes as something of a surprise, and is a result of many conservatives returning to their party later in the game, according to Joseph Ura, A&M political science professor. “The way the polls are tightening seems to suggest that a lot of Republicans — those who said they weren’t going to support Trump or that they were going to vote third party — that many of those people are coming back home in the final days,” Ura said. Florian Hollenbach, A&M political sci-
2016
FEB. 20, 2016: GOP candidate Jeb Bush withdraws
ence professor, said the outcome of the election will depend on last minute efforts by candidates. “I think there is still some uncertainty left,” Hollenbach said. “A lot of it will depend on how good or bad the ground games are for each of the campaigns are, on their efforts on getting people out to vote. It seems so far the Trump campaign has a relatively bad ground game, and they’re having trouble with that. A lot of who wins will depend on how that ends up looking at the end.”
MARCH 1, 2016: Clinton, Trump win big in Super Tuesday primaries MAY 3, 2016: Ted Cruz drops out of GOP race JUNE 6, 2016: Clinton secures the 2,383 delegate minimum to secure democratic nomination
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JULY 12, 2016: Sanders endorses Clinton at DNC JULY 15, 2016: Trump announces Mike Pence is running mate
Professors discuss how polls are conducted and whether or not they should be trusted as reliable sources
JULY 21, 2016: Trump accepts GOP nomination
By Gap Barbin @gap_barbin
According to A&M professor Michael Longnecker, a good scientific poll takes a random sample that is representative of the population as a whole.
JULY 22, 2016: Clinton announces Tim Kaine is running mate
Presidential polls, which have saturated the national news throughout the 2016 election, are born from people’s curiosity to foresee the next president. But unlike skipping to the last page of a book, polls do not always reveal the true outcome, and Tuesday’s results will either confirm or deny the reliability of months of polling. In its most recent presidential poll, USA Today reported the national averages at 45.5 percent for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, 42.3 percent for Republican candidate Donald Trump, 4.7 percent for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and 1.8 percent for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Michael Longnecker, A&M professor and associate department head of statistics, said polling reliability lies in proper data collection. “As you’ve been watching the national polls, they are all over the map,” Longnecker said. “So on a given day, there may be 10 polls, and the numbers for Clinton and Trump are just the opposite. In one poll, Clinton is ahead by four, and in another, they are tied. It all depends on how they are collecting their data.” According to Longnecker, correct data collection is rooted in a random sample that is representative of the population as a whole. “A good scientific poll will take a random sample of some population. But you may be excluding a whole group of people because they simply are not interested,” Longnecker said. “So, you are not getting a good picture. You need to consider, for one, are the people POLLING ON PG. 2
FEB. 1, 2016: Clinton, Ted Cruz emerge victorious from the Iowa caucus FEB. 9, 2016: Trump, Bernie Sanders win New Hampshire primaries
Election Day will reveal accuracy of polling
Rachael Grant — THE BATTALION
OCT. 21, 2015: Vice President Joe Biden confirms he is not running
JULY 22, 2016: Clinton accepts democratic nomination SEPT. 26, 2016: First presidential debate is held in New York OCT. 7, 2016: 2005 audio of Trump making crude comments surfaces, meets widespread backlash OCT. 28, 2016: FBI reopens Clinton email investigation
NOV. 8
NOV. 6, 2016: FBI says no evidence was found in emails that Clinton should face charges for
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