As votes pick the place of poll numbers,winning isn’t everything: previous contests have shown that a moment-place finish can offer long-term rewardsThe hoary archaic cliche in politics is that the only poll that matters is the one on Election Day. This is counterfeit. After all, polls have become the lifeblood of measuring who is up and who is down in the frantic 24-hour news cycle that now defines American presidential elections. They are so central that the current Republican frontrunner devotes time in every rally to reading out his poll numbers. But what polls don’t have is the blunt force of reality. Polls are ephemeral. Actual votes are fixed, and tough numbers.
With the Iowa caucuses on Monday,candidates will face actual returns from actual voters. Neither the candidates nor the pundits can dismiss the figures, which means everything changes.
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Source: theguardian.com