Technological and social change is forcing pollsters to rethink a lot of things about our trade as we move into 2014. … There is nothing quite as embarrassing as having major portions of your campaign strategy — as tested in your benchmark poll — leaked because you interviewed someone in […] Read more »
Margin of Error: Political Pollsters Still Don’t Know What They’re Doing
Few polls have signaled Democratic peril this year quite like those in Colorado, the purple state that twice helped push Barack Obama into the White House. Just look at Quinnipiac’s surveys throughout 2013. They’ve found Obama’s public approval in Colorado ranging from the low 40s to the mid 30s; formerly […] Read more »
Canada: Pollster worried shoddy surveys will lead to polling ban during elections
A spate of spectacularly inaccurate polls in several provincial elections and Monday’s federal by-elections has one of Canada’s leading pollsters worried that the day is fast approaching when public opinion surveys will be banned during campaigns. John Wright, senior vice-president of Ipsos Global Public Affairs, said in his view shoddy […] Read more »
New Book by SurveyPost Researchers: Social Media, Sociality, and Survey Research
When SurveyPost launched two years ago, our community of researchers had just begun to investigate developments in digital technology, social media, and big data and their impact on the future of survey research. In order to engage other survey researchers and establish a body of knowledge about this rapidly changing […] Read more »
Pew’s Misleading Trans Fat Poll
In his response to my article critical of a Pew poll, Michael Dimock, Director of the Pew Research Center, acknowledges that I raise a “legitimate point,” that “one major challenge to measuring public opinion is that people may not always know what you are asking about.” I raised this point, […] Read more »
Peter Hart shows students how to get at what voters really think
… “What I love about my profession is I get to go deep. I get to find out what’s on your mind and what you’re thinking and why it’s important,” said [Peter] Hart, who is teaching public opinion techniques and strategies as the Visiting Murrow Lecturer of the Practice of […] Read more »