This Is What Happens When Polls Are the Story

In this, the day-after hangover after half a year of binging on polls, we are met with piece after piece that seeks to explain what went wrong in Iowa. And by what went wrong, we mean, of course, why the results did not hew to the projections of the poll-obsessed.

If we look back, there were plenty of pieces that essentially served as hedge. On the eve of the caucus, FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver offered an extensive look at why Iowa is particularly difficult to predict.