This is CBS. I am the world. I'm John Batchel. I welcome my colleague, Professor Richard Epstein, of the Hoover Institution, teaches law at NYU, and the University of Chicago.

And in looking at the most recent election, and lessons learned so far, for the parties and for those looking ahead for the second Trump administration

and a majority Congress which is a rare event and requires contemplation.

Richard, a very good evening too.

On election night, the polls told us that it was very close and that

the majority was leaning towards Vice President Harris. However, as the evening began and the results

at first trickled in and then came more steadily, it was clear that the polls were not describing what we were seeing on the map.

At the end of the evening, which was about 4 a.m., my only characterization of what I saw was a razor-thin landslide.

Now that it's several days later, and we see Mr. Trump and the Republicans dominating the results,

can you recall your first thoughts on election night and then your thoughts ever since as to what we're seeing

and what we didn't see in the polls, what we didn't anticipate from the cognizante beforehand but it is now relevant

good evening to you richard yeah hi well i was of two minds i listened to the polls um i have mixed

woes about donald trump and i have utterly unambiguous views about kamala harris and i said i can't

believe that this woman could possibly win.

And these polls are telling me that.

And then what I did is I took a deep breath, went to sleep, and I woke up in the morning.

And I said, no, the polls are worthless and that he will win.

Now, why did I say that?

Fact number one is that we had polls back in 2020, which had Biden ahead by seven, and he won

dubiously, I think, by two. And so there was a bias in the polls then. There's going to be more

of a bias now. Secondly, I think when it comes to polling, there are too many polls. And one of the

things that the Democrats are very good at is intimidation. And when people

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