Just before the exit polls: The first computer that predicted election results

The article revisits the story of UNIVAC, the first computer that attempted to predict election results, during the 1952 US elections. The computer indicated a landslide victory for Eisenhower, but humans were hesitant to trust it due to the embarrassment of the 1948 elections. The prediction was based on 3.4 million votes and gave Eisenhower odds of 100 to 1.

Just before the polls close in the Israeli elections, the article revisits the story of UNIVAC, the first computer that attempted to predict election results. On the night of the 1952 US elections, CBS integrated the computer into its coverage, and it indicated a landslide victory for Dwight Eisenhower over Adlai Stevenson, with odds of 100 to 1. The prediction was based on about 3.4 million votes that had already been counted. Due to the embarrassment of the 1948 elections, where predictions proved wrong, broadcasters exercised caution and delayed the publication of the forecast. In the end, Eisenhower won with 442 electoral votes to 89. The article notes that the programmers did not anticipate needing three digits to display such a large lead, and that several more election cycles passed before computerized models became a regular part of election broadcasts.