In an ambitious effort to rectify the inaccuracies of past polling, The New York Times conducted extensive on-the-ground reporting in 1956 to gauge public opinion regarding the presidential election.
The Times' teams fanned out across battleground states, interviewing a broad spectrum of voters. Despite their efforts, they reported inaccurate predictions for Eisenhower's reelection.
The final report by The Times suggested Eisenhower would win, but underplayed his success. He carried 41 states, far surpassing the predicted results.
Ultimately, The Times' experiment demonstrated that qualitative public opinion reporting still struggled significantly in accurately capturing the political landscape compared to reliable polling methods.
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