Pollster ratings · Head to head

Morning Consult vs. SurveyUSA: which pollster is more accurate?

SurveyUSA comes out ahead on 5 of 6 measures in the Crosstab Trust Index, which grades pollsters on how close their final polls came to actual results from 1998 to 2022.

 
Morning Consult
B-
Trust Score 41/100 · rank #45
★ Ahead
SurveyUSA
A
Trust Score 82/100 · rank #4

Head to head

MeasureMorning ConsultSurveyUSA
Trust Score41/10082/100 ★
Average error
how far final polls missed the result
4.5 pts4.2 pts ★
Versus expected
error compared with what its races predicted
0.1 worse0.9 better ★
Consistency
random miss once its tilt is removed
±2.7 pts ★±4.2 pts
Historical bias
closer to even is better
D+4Even ★
Winners called71%87% ★
Track record
final polls analyzed, 1998–2022
74 polls698 polls
2026 polls134

Compare them in the interactive Trust Index All pollster ratings

More comparisons: Morning Consult vs. YouGov · SurveyUSA vs. YouGov · Emerson College vs. Morning Consult · Emerson College vs. SurveyUSA · Morning Consult vs. University of New Hampshire Survey Center · SurveyUSA vs. University of New Hampshire Survey Center · Morning Consult vs. New York Times/Siena College · New York Times/Siena College vs. SurveyUSA

Frequently asked questions

Which is more accurate, Morning Consult or SurveyUSA?

SurveyUSA has the smaller average error (4.2 pts vs. 4.5 pts). Overall, surveyUSA comes out ahead on 5 of 6 measures in the Crosstab Trust Index (Morning Consult: B-, Trust Score 41; SurveyUSA: A, Trust Score 82).

Grades: Crosstab Trust Index, computed from FiveThirtyEight's pollster-ratings data (CC BY 4.0), 1998–2022; 2026 measures from Crosstab's polling data.

Updated 2026-10-04 · Crosstab, nonpartisan polling analysis.