David Byler

Los Angeles

Data analyst and columnist focusing on elections, demographics, ideology and statistics

Education: Princeton University, BSE in operations research and financial engineering, 2014

David Byler is a data analyst and political columnist focusing on elections, polling, demographics and statistics. He joined The Washington Post in 2019 and built the Post Opinions Simulator. Before joining The Post, Byler was chief elections analyst and a staff writer at the Weekly Standard, where he covered House, Senate, gubernatorial and presidential elections using statistics and other quantitative tools. He previously worked as an elections analyst at RealClearPolitics.
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Latest from David Byler

Donald Trump is begging for attention. Nobody cares.

The former president announced his 2024 run, dined with white nationalists and endorsed fringe candidates — but isn't attracting the attention he once did.

December 7, 2022

Did uncontested races cost the Democrats the House popular vote?

A statistical analysis suggests Republicans would still have come out ahead if both parties had competed everywhere.

December 5, 2022

The GOP did fine with Latino voters. But that wasn’t good enough.

Republicans will have to wait longer and make more inroads before their investment in the Latino vote leads to increased political power.

November 19, 2022

No, gerrymandering didn’t cost Democrats the House

Republicans clinched the House majority. Gerrymandering shaped the outcome — but it wasn't the decisive factor.

November 18, 2022

Politicians probably don’t need your money

If you've heard of a candidate, the person probably already has more than enough money to run on.

November 11, 2022

Republicans are disappointed about 2022. Here’s who they can blame.

Republicans wanted to win in a red wave, but they got a red ripple. Who's responsible for all this disappointment?

November 11, 2022

The 2022 election results tell us nothing about 2024

There is no statistical connection between the 2022 election results and the 2024 results. It's all noise and no signal.

November 9, 2022

The (early) verdict: The polls were okay!

It's too early to get into nitty-gritty detail. But the polls suggested a close election, and it looks like we have one on our hands.

November 9, 2022

Five 2022 races that will tell us about 2024 — and beyond

These midterm races will give us a sneak peek at the future of our politics.

November 7, 2022

Latino voters won’t save the GOP

Donald Trump gained Latino voters, and Republicans are doing well with them in 2022 — but it's not enough to ensure future victories.

November 4, 2022