Polling the usual major party line-toers doesn’t take into account the other 50% of the electorate which consist of people that are considered non-voters as they abstained from voting in the past due to seeing no major difference between to the two major parties or their candidates and feeling that their vote doesn’t accomplish anything.

This of course all changes when a candidate comes along that resonates with people that chose not to vote because they were disillusioned with politics. A prime example of this was Jesse Ventura’s run for governor in Minnesota’s 1998 gubernatorial race.