House Speaker Mike Johnson told Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday on October 25, 2026, that the polls are wrong and based on faulty analysis, Johnson said in the interview. He pointed to a CNN story he cited, saying that 14 of the last 16 October polls under-sampled Republicans by an average of 4 points, and he argued that Republicans are no longer responding to polls.
Johnson made his firsthand case by pointing to his recent travel, saying he had visited 21 states and 39 congressional districts in three weeks. He said the crowds he encountered showed energy like that of 2024, and that very few attendees said they had answered a poll in the previous six months, according to Johnson.
Johnson framed the stakes by arguing that, if similar polling errors recur, Republicans could compete for Senate seats including in Michigan while defending their House majority. He also urged voters not to get complacent, Johnson said.
For context, current polls show Democrats ahead on the generic ballot, and pollsters say they have adjusted their methods since the polling misses of 2016, 2020 and 2024. Johnson's claim that polls undercount Republicans is his argument, not an established fact.
Saturday, October 31, 2026
Days before voters headed to the polls, Johnson pressed the same argument in sharper terms, declaring that "the polls are wrong" and predicting "big victories" for Republicans on election night. The message, published on Saturday, October 31, 2026, challenged pollsters directly as the campaign entered its final days.
Johnson had made the undercount argument in the October 25 interview carried above, and repeated it in later appearances, including on the Ingraham Angle on October 26 and in interviews in Iowa on October 28 and 29, where he said there was "no drag at all" on Republican candidates and that he expected to remain Speaker.
