The CNN version said "better than expected".

And there were so many polls with fluctuating results that I am not entirely surprised that some were very close to the final results. Furthermore the way that you conduct a poll affects the outcome, sometimes in hard to predict ways.

Which is why I really want to see exit polls reinstated, because in a working democracy those are an easy, fast check on the integrity of the voting system. Furthermore they are more accurate since they directly reflect the actual population who in the end chose to vote, with far reduced issues about the survey technique possibly affecting the reported answers.

Ben