Dear narses,
I'm not suggesting that this poll serves as a prediction. In fact, I'm suggesting that it may not serve well as a prediction at all. Nonetheless, we assign some predictive value to polls, especially to polls taken just prior to the actual event - the election, otherwise, we likely would ignore them.
We see "50 - 45," and we're heartened. To the degree that we take heart from this poll, we are considering it to be at least partly a prediction. Else, who cares about the "50 - 45"?
Some polls have better predictive value than others. This poll, in the last election, had poor predictive value.
sitetest
Sure and my thought is that the data presnted is much more interesting than just the BIG conclusion. I haven't seen any of the other polls release this much data. The truth will be known next week.