Final polls in the lead-up to Election Day showed a tight race, and some even favored Vice President Harris.
But in the end, the small sliver of undecided Americans who live in key battleground states favored former President Donald Trump and propelled him back to the White House.
Margie Omero, a Democratic pollster, told Morning Edition that exit polling data shows late deciders and people who didn't vote in the previous election went for Trump. In 2020, she said, they favored Biden.
"I know that the race looks decisive today as people are waking up and looking at what's happened in the Electoral College, but all the battleground states were ultimately within a few points," Omero said, adding that the results aren't far off from the margins of error in polling.
In Michigan and Wisconsin have both been called for Trump; about a percentage point separated the two candidates, according to the Associated Press. Trump won Pennsylvania by about two points.
"Every poll we did where we tried different types of messaging, public polling, focus groups, there wasn't that much that seemed to move the race," Omero said. "It's consistent with a locked-in, tied race ...[where] the margin of error broke for Trump leading to where he is today."
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