The polls had predicted a good showing for Democrats in the election, according to the report. Democrats flipped at least seven Senate seats, including in South Carolina, Kansas and Texas, and races expected to be close were not close.
Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg said the polls were directionally correct but probably did not anticipate the size of the shift. She said pollsters adjust for the fact that Democrats tend to be more likely to take surveys, which may have lowered the Democratic share in pre-election polls. She also said many new voters turned out, and pollsters cannot predict those voters well.
Greenberg said the midterm was similar to 2018 in size but closer to 1976 in impact. She said the movement of young men was a notable surprise and that the election might be a realigning one.