Election Shocker: How Could Experts Have Been So Wrong?
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Donald Trump's stunning presidential victory took nearly all of the pundits by surprise. So how could the experts have been so wrong about the election?
Trump's victory was the most astounding election shock ever, says Democratic consultant Mark Nevins.
"This was unprecedented, both in its seismic degree and also in its surprise," he Nevins said. "Anybody that says they saw this exact result coming is probably not telling the truth."
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Nevins, who was Hillary Clinton's Pennsylvania Communications Director in 2008, says hardly anyone predicted the intensity levels from frustrated voters who felt Trump would upend a government that isn't listening to them.
"The powerful voice with which those people spoke was underestimated," he said.
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And Nevins says nearly everyone underestimated the economic insecurity of blue-collar voters who supported Trump, despite his flaws.
"An alarming number of people considered him unfit to be president," he said. "And yet, some percentage of those people who considered him unfit to be president still voted for him."
Nevins likens analyzing how voters choose their candidates to an earthquake -- with the immediate effects obvious, but the deeper, hidden impact found upon closer inspection later.
