You’ve done your homework and asked all the right questions and you have faith that the poll you are to report on is a solid, reputable poll conducted according to scientific survey research standards. Now all you have to do is decipher the numbers and write about the results of the poll for your readers and viewers. But reporting horserace numbers can be tricky and treacherous if you don’t pay attention to those pesky details in the methodology box.

In this section, we will discuss how to write about leads and close races, how to decipher changes in trends over time, how to describe the opinions of sub-groups responsibly, and what to do when polls disagree (even when done well, scientific polls can produce very different numbers at times).