Despite getting closer than before in 2024, the public polling industry has consistently underestimated support for President Donald Trump, in part due to more people ignoring unwanted calls and texts from pollsters.
And polling is unlikely to get a helping hand from Big Tech: A new feature in Apple’s incoming iPhone operating system could make it tougher and more expensive to get ahold of respondents.
An Apple press event from June describing new features in iOS 26 like “on-device spam detection” and “the ability to screen new senders” sent panic through the political polling and fundraising worlds.