Election exit polls are ‘worst invention ever’, says David Dimbleby

Broadcaster who hosted BBC’s election night coverage for 40 years says increasing accuracy of exit polls ‘takes the fun away’

David Dimbleby, the election broadcast grandee, has said exit polls are “the worst invention ever” because they take the fun out of election nights.

The veteran broadcaster announced to the nation the result of 11 exit poll projections as host of the BBC’s general election coverage from 1979 to 2019. But speaking to the BBC’s Newcast podcast he confessed that he has never liked exit polls.