"Who is real, and who isn’t?" Pollsters struggle to measure huge 2020 field

New surveys are cramming up to 23 Democrats into their questionnaires after the Democratic National Committee set a low, 1 percent polling threshold to gain admittance into the party’s first primary debates. The miles-long list of candidates has created an unusual set of methodological challenges for pollsters already battling declining engagement with their surveys.

But pollsters say the criteria also put them in a no-win situation: A pollster’s decision about whether to include a candidate or not could be a make-or-break choice for that campaign, especially the lesser-known and first-time White House hopefuls hoping to make the debate stage.

“The main thing standing between a candidate registering 1 percent and 0 percent in any particular poll is each pollster’s decision of whom to include,” said Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “This places an undue editorial burden on public polling outfits.”