[shhrubbery!]

Drudge may be reporting them as-is, but without context (ie what the early exits were like in previous elections and how they varied from the final results) ..

Yes context would be helpful -- Drudge frequently posts items he labels "flashbacks" to contrast a current situation with a previous one.

In this case he should post a "flashback" to the 2004 election, in which exit polls showed Kerry winning handily.

I probably didn't need to remind FReepers of that ... most of us likely remember that nerve wracking news quite well! But things changed when the REAL polls closed. No President Kerry.

Moral of the story: Don't trust exit polls. For whatever reason, they are nearly always biased against Republicans.

[9YearLurker]

Did the exit polls ever show any Bush win—or do we have to go back to 1984 for them to have called it for the GOP?

[9YearLurker]

This shows that at least as far back as 1988 the exit polls have never gone Republican, and they’ve on average overstated the Democrat candidate’s share by 4% points:

http://richardcharnin.com/19882008ExitvsRecorded.gif

I think the data is from Roper.