““On October 18, before the numbers had been re-weighted, the campaign’s internal election simulator, dubbed the “Battleground Optimizer Path to Victory,” gave Trump a 7.8 percent chance of winning the 270 electoral votes he needed. His long odds were mainly due to the fact that he trailed (albeit narrowly) in most of the states that looked like they would decide the election, including the all-important state of Florida. Re-weighting the model to reflect an older, whiter electorate changed the polls by only a couple of percentage points in most of the major battleground states. But it shifted the odds of victory substantially in Trump’s direction because it either put him ahead or made him””
![“There was an analyst who came out the other day who's had a long track record of projecting presidential campaigns based on the economy and other kind of factors. And he said if [Donald] Trump stays about where he is right now, he'll win at about 51 or 52 percent. If Trump actually gets his act…” quote by Newt Gingrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/fdf/newt-gingrich-792_analysts_there-was-an-analyst-who-came-out-the-ot_106317.jpg)
![“The latest national polls show a tightening in the race to the White House, especially in key states like Ohio and Florida. But when it comes down to it, winning in November [2016] will depend on which candidate has a viable path to 270 electoral votes.” quote by Gwen Ifill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/008/gwen-ifill-10218_candidates_the-latest-national-polls-show-a-tighten_1383752.jpg)
