Polls often diverge by a few points, but it’s rare to see well-respected polls come to opposing conclusions about the public’s take on an issue. In the last week, however, an Associated Press-GfK poll found support for President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul at a new low while a Washington […] Read more »
Analysis of Rutgers-Eagleton 2013 Pre-election Polls Released
Following inaccurate results for final pre-election polls in October 2013 (NJ Special Senate) and November 2013 (NJ Governor), the Eagleton Institute of Politics commissioned an outside study by Gary Langer of Langer Research Associates of New York to identify reasons for the outcomes of these polls. Today, The Eagleton Institute […] Read more »
The problem with modern polling, in one chart
Most political polling these days is seriously skewed. But the problems with polling aren’t oversamples of partisans bending results to one side’s preferred perspective — the problem is that Americans are increasingly changing the way they communicate. Traditionally, pollsters have gauged voter or consumer opinions by calling their targets at […] Read more »
Beware sloppiness when reporting on surveys
There is an old saying that figures don’t lie but liars figure. That’s a good thing to keep in mind when examining how some companies market the results of surveys. OK, perhaps lying is too strong a term, but I’ve seen too many press releases that promote the results of […] Read more »
Post A Survey On Mechanical Turk And Watch The Results Roll In
You can buy just about anything on Amazon.com — clothes, books, electronics. You can buy answers, too. College students and professors are doing all sorts of research on an Amazon site called Mechanical Turk. … When you type in the Web address MechanicalTurk.com, you’ll see a page full of gray […] Read more »
Hawaii Polls Demand a Critical Eye
This weekend’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser Hawaii poll brought a raft of surprising findings. Appointed Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz is trailing Democratic Rep. Colleen Hanabusa in their closely-watched primary matchup, and Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who appointed Schatz to the Senate and was succeeded in the House by Hanabusa, is losing to […] Read more »