Can we please stop bashing polls?

They were right!

Sign onto Twitter X or Threads or Facebook or your favorite social media site this morning and the political conversation you will find goes like this:

DON’T BELIEVE THE POLLS. VOTES ARE ALL THAT MATTER.

This tweet is indicative of the general sentiment:

The message is (seemingly) simple: Tuesday was a(nother) good day for Democrats at the ballot box. Which means that all the doom and gloom in the run-up to the vote was misguided. That polling doesn’t capture the reality on the ground. That Democrats are in much better shape than all of these pundits and their “polls” suggest.

Which, I get! The media (and our polls) are an easy scapegoat. It’s the rare bipartisan belief in politics; both parties think the media is unfair to them and purposely pushes unfair narratives — largely through polling and data.

But, here’s the thing: Attacking polls for being wrong is, well, wrong. Because the polling in the most high-profile races on the ballot on Tuesday was decidedly accurate.