This far out from the first votes in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, the closest thing to real numbers that anyone can use to gauge how well candidates are doing are poll results. Bloomberg Politics this morning features an analysis of how these raw numbers offer at best a limited insight on the 2016 nomination contest’s status quo:

Why It’s So Hard to Understand 2016 With Numbers Alone

The new breed of cool analytical election observers—from Nate Silver at 538 …