Superstorm Sandy has disrupted so many aspects of everyday life up and down the East Coast. Flooding is still an issue in many areas; millions remain without power; and scores of businesses are closed down. And it’s clear the storm will almost certainly affect next week’s election. 

Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the polling firm Gallup, says it is too soon to draw any conclusions about the storm’s influence on voters because a large swath of the population remains unreachable.

Regardless of the storm, Newport says the race is “absolutely still about the economy — no question about that…when the dust settles, whoever wins, we will see that the voters perceptions of how they have or will handle the economy will be the number one factor.”