This year's presidential race a was high-stakes proposition for pollsters following their misfires in 2016 and 2020. They collectively anticipated a close race this time — projections that proved largely accurate, notably in swing states where former President Trump built narrow leads to win a non-consecutive second term in the White House.

Pollsters came close to pegging voters’ support for Trump in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Georgia, all of which he carried in defeating Vice President Harris. Trump leads in three other vigorously contested battleground states: Michigan, Arizona and Nevada.

Complete results were still to be tabulated in most states by Wednesday morning. But enough votes have been counted to make clear that Trump exceeded polling averages by about 2 points in winning Pennsylvania and North Carolina, by about 1.5 points in Wisconsin and by 1 point in Georgia.

Those are all enviable results for pollsters. At the end of the campaign, the RealClearPolitics average of polls indicated that Trump was narrowly behind in Wisconsin and slightly ahead in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia.

A sweep by Trump of the seven battlegrounds would match projections by the polling firm Atlas Intel, which........

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