There have been surprisingly few election polls since the F.B.I. director James Comey’s letter to Congress last week. The dearth of polls has actually been a pattern all year: The number of live-interview polls in the battleground states fell to 36 from 80 compared with a similar period in 2012, according to FiveThirtyEight’s Harry Enten.

When the polling drought ends, here’s what I’ll be watching for:

■ The margin. O.K., that’s obvious, but it is the first thing I want to know. Who leads and by how much? Hillary Clinton would remain a very clear favorite if she still led by five or six percentage points nationally. A lead of two or three points would be well within the range in which a typical polling error could put Donald J. Trump over the top.

■ Mr. Trump’s vote share. He has struggled to win much more than 42 percent of the vote in four-way polls so far this year, but his numbers have started to pick up since the third presidential debate.

If he can move into the mid-40s, it will suggest he’s succeeding in winning over people who have been skeptical of his candidacy. And he’ll need to win a lot of voters who view him unfavorably in order to be elected.