To my thinking, all polls have always been suspect ever since the invention of caller ID. I do not think there is some "grand conspiracy" by pollsters but just human ineptitude, poor thought processes in poll design, and terribly skewed sampling they don't properly correct for.

Also, I really did have to laugh at all the hair on fire about the polls saying "Biden loses to Trump!" because in tiny, hard to read little print at the bottom is the "margin of error" number... watch for those in the future cuz it will give you a chuckle. The "margin of error" tells you the numbers are worthless.

I agree a far more telling indicator than any poll is a "sign survey". I too live in a very Trumpy area, and back in 2016 and 2020, Trump flags were all over my neighborhood. Now, just one diehard blowhard still has a Trump flag--along with his confederate flag and a 2nd Amendment flag. The rest just have pleasantly neutral American flags.