Exit Poll
A survey of voters conducted just after they leave polling places on Election Day to estimate how different groups voted.
An exit poll is a survey conducted by news organizations and research firms on Election Day in which voters are interviewed immediately after casting their ballots. Exit polls ask how people voted and collect demographic information to analyze voting patterns across different groups.
Media organizations use exit poll data to make early projections of election outcomes and to report on how various groups - by age, education, party, gender, and other characteristics - voted.
Exit polls are estimates, not official results. They carry a margin of error and have historically been imprecise in close races. They should be distinguished from official vote tallies, which take precedence over any projection.
With the rise of early voting and mail-in ballots, exit polls have been supplemented by 'entrance polls' conducted before Election Day at early voting locations.