Hillary Clinton’s lead in the polls should be taken with some skepticism

(Photo: David Goldman – AP)

Following the surprise results of Colombia’s peace referendum and Britain’s Brexit vote — in which most polls turned out to be wrong — one has to ask whether something similar could happen in the U.S. elections. And the answer is yes.

The reason I’m fearful that Donald Trump could win despite Hillary Clinton’s current four-point lead in the polls — yes, I think Trump would be an unstable, erratic and dangerous president — is simple: Polls are not what they used to be.

“Every day, it’s becoming more difficult to conduct scientific polls, and to obtain credible results, especially when we’re talking of telephone surveys, ” veteran pollster Sergio Bendixen, founder of the Bendixen & Amandi polling firm, told me. “People are fed up with getting calls from pollsters, and many don’t respond anymore.”

Bendixen, who started doing polls 40 years ago, says that the percentage of people answering calls from pollsters has dropped dramatically in recent decades.

To continue reading this article click The Miami Herald