Kellyanne Conway on Midterms: 'Participation in a Poll Is Not the Same as Participation at the Polls'

During an appearance on FNC’s “Fox News Sunday,” pollster Kellyanne Conway backed House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on an earlier statement urging viewers not to trust the polls on the outcome of this year’s midterm election. Conway argued polls were presenting an “overestimation of Democratic enthusiasm.” “Well, Speaker Johnson has a point,” she explained. “There is an overestimation of Democratic enthusiasm. We saw that in the primaries this year in the polls. Kalshi gave Francesca Hong a 90% chance of winning the primary for governor of Wisconsin. She has a zero percent chance of being the next governor since she lost the race. Same thing with El-Sayed. Emerson polling, not prediction markets, gave El-Sayed a 15-point advantage over Haley Stevens. He won by one point.” She continued, “So, let’s all remember, participation in a poll is not the same as participation at the polls. Many Republicans now know they were targeted, censored, silenced, shadow-banned if they supported President Trump. And now we know Jack Smith targeted you if you bought a red MAGA hat. So, we can understand your reluctance to participate in the poll. And there’s this suspicion of institutions, also to say nothing of the fact that professional pollsters of decades, like Celinda Lake and me, are up against screeners, caller I.D., spam filters, etc.” “But I just wanted to make this point,” Conway added. “I think looking at these races, the reason that Speaker Johnson’s hesitation about believing all the polls is important is, because they’re all margin-of-error races now in the Senate. Nobody is at 50% and staying there, Shannon. So, these are on a razor’s edge. That’s why you see President Trump out there basically telling voters, I know some of you want to turn out, but it’s necessary you turn out.” Follow Jeff Poor on X @jeff_poor