Surveys capture voter motivations across 45 states

Voters leaving polling places on Election Day will answer approximately 25 questions on a paper form. This process provides an immediate snapshot of who is casting ballots and the specific reasons behind their choices.

The data collection is managed by the Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan, operating under the acronym SSRS. This firm conducts the work for a consortium of seven news outlets, including NBC News, ABC News, The Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, and MS NOW. All participating organizations receive the same raw data.

Interviewers will be stationed at more than 450 polling locations in 15 Senate battleground states. These states include Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. In each of these locations, the sample size is set at approximately 4,000 voters.

Alaska will have a slightly smaller sample of about 3,000 voters. This state includes interviews with individuals who cast ballots at early voting sites before Election Day. In the other 30 states with Senate or governor races, the sample size ranges from 500 to 3,000 voters. The national sample combines these in-person responses with online and telephone surveys to reach a total of over 75,000 voters.

The questionnaire asks respondents to identify the candidate they supported in House, Senate, and governor races. It also collects demographic information such as age, gender, race, and education level. This demographic data is used to weight the results so the poll reflects the actual composition of the electorate.

To ensure accuracy, the poll includes a pre-election survey. Before Election Day, researchers contact potential respondents via mail, telephone, text, or online platforms. On Election Day, interviewers verify that these individuals actually voted and confirm their final choice. This method captures voters who cast ballots early or by mail, groups that are often missed by traditional exit polls.

Interviewers follow a systematic counting method to select participants. They count every person leaving the polling place and offer a questionnaire to every third or fifth person. This process continues from the time polls open until they close. Interviewers phone in the collected results to a data center three times during the day.

The survey is anonymous. In-person voters fill out the forms themselves and deposit them in boxes, keeping their answers secret. For remote interviews, no personal information is retained. The news organizations jointly determine the survey methodology and the specific questions asked. National and state polls include different questions to address local issues.

NBC News will not report any exit poll results before 5 p.m. ET on election night. Results that could indicate the outcome of a specific race will not be released until all polls in that state are scheduled to close. As new data comes in, the results are updated and reweighted in real time.