How To Make Sense Of Exit Polls On Election Night

People watch election returns in Times Square on election night in 2016. After the exit polls appeared to be significantly off in that election, Fox News and the AP broke with other news organizations to start a new system. That could mean competing narratives of what happens on Election Day.

EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ / AFP/Getty Images

As results roll in on election night, pundits and political junkies will carefully be watching the exit polls for a glimpse into who voted for which candidate and why.

But exit polls are complicated, and sometimes misleading, as they were in 2016.

For one thing, be careful about reading too much into exit polls early in the night. As more data comes in, they can be more useful later in the evening to explain what’s happening — more so than predicting results before the polls have closed.