There’s little surprise so far in October. According to social media, half the world spent the weekend at a pumpkin patch, and the other half spent it debating the merits of Christopher Columbus. The usual schools lead the college football rankings. And political coverage is telling you that “the polls […] Read more »
Horse-race polls are not fixable
The biggest “problem” with horse-race polling isn’t fixable. The entire concept of polling depends on having a set population from which one can take a random sample and get a generally representative snapshot. Pre-election polls have no existing population—the election hasn’t happened yet, and voting isn’t compulsory in the U.S., […] Read more »
How to Run Surveys: A Guide to Creating Your Own Identifying Variation and Revealing the Invisible
… This paper offers guidance on the complete survey process, from the design of the questions and experiments to the recruitment of respondents and the collection of data to the analysis of survey responses. It covers issues related to the sampling process, selection and attrition, attention and carelessness, survey question […] Read more »
A Conversation With Lance Tarrance, GOP Polling Icon
Lance Tarrance is one of the founding fathers of modern political polling. In this conversation, he talks about what drew him into the world of GOP politics, an inflection point working at the US Census Bureau, going to work for Ronald Reagan’s pollster, then opening up his own firm, The […] Read more »
Why we can’t figure out the Hispanic vote
Hispanic voters could easily be the x-factor that determines whether Democrats or Republicans hold Congress in November. In 2020, a rightward shift among some Hispanics—most notably in South Texas and Florida—resulted in a few surprise congressional wins for Republicans and stronger-than-expected support for then-President Trump. In general, the 2020 trend […] Read more »
Are the Polls Giving Dems False Hope Again?
… Polling is the lifeblood of politics. It drives press coverage and campaign decision-making. But what if polling is fundamentally broken? What if we are viewing politics through a fun house mirror? … Is the recent burst of Democratic optimism another case of inaccurate poll-fueled naivete? No. While polls may […] Read more »