How Could Polls Be So Wrong? And Who Changed the Numbers?

Most of the polls showed the governor's race in Michigan in a dead-heat.  Some actually gave the edge to Democratic challenger Mark Schauer.  But in the end, Governor Snyder pulled off the win and not just by a point or two, begging the question: what went wrong with the polls?

MLive.com is reporting election results that show the Republican incumbent with better than a 4 percentage point win over his challenger.  The win despite third party candidates peeling off another 69,000-plus votes.

So did people lie to the pollsters, or were there undecided voters who simply waited until the 11th hour to make their decision?

Pollster Ed Sarpolus, on the 1240 WJIM-AM Steve Gruber Show with Jo Anne Paul, said today a shift among those 35 to 49 years of age made the difference.

Snyder's successful reelection bid was among a number of wins for Republicans Tuesday, including for:  Attorney General, Secretary of State, congressional, state house and senate seats.   U. S. Senate candidate Gary Peters was one of only a few Dems to take home a win with a significant margin of victory.

Join Jo Anne Paul weekdays for news updates on 99.1 WFMK-FM, 100.7 WITL-FM and 1240 WJIM-AM and the other stations of the Michigan Talk Network
joanne.paul@townsquaremedia.com