… The Alabama special election is forcing pollsters to confront just about every major challenge in survey research. There’s more uncertainty than usual about who will turn out to vote, and a candidate whose unpopularity may make his committed voters unwilling to admit their support to a pollster. And looming […] Read more »
Everything You Need To Know About Alabama’s Senate Election
Alabama’s long and strange special election for U.S. Senate comes to a close on Tuesday. Democrat Doug Jones and Republican Roy Moore face off in their bids to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions for the remainder of the term. Moore is the favorite, according to the […] Read more »
Pollsters, pundits say Alabama Senate race impossible to predict
The entire political world is watching Alabama’s Senate race, but what happens Tuesday is anybody’s guess. The highly unusual nature of the election, along with the difficulty faced by pollsters, has made the race murkier than a cypress swamp. Recent polls show Republican Roy Moore leading Democrat Doug Jones by […] Read more »
Pollsters throw predictions out the window in Alabama race
Who’s leading in Tuesday’s special Senate election in Alabama? The race is so peculiar and has so many variables that some pollsters are reluctant to say. Rather than put out a single result that could be viewed as a projection in the race between Democrat Doug Jones and Republican Roy […] Read more »
What The Hell Is Happening With These Alabama Polls?
Somebody’s going to be wrong in Alabama. We’ve already urged caution when interpreting polls of Alabama’s special election to the U.S. Senate, which will be held on Tuesday. Some of that is because of the media’s usual tendency to demand certainty from the polls when the polls can’t provide it. […] Read more »
The Effects of Probing in Survey Research
Probing is a common technique that researchers use in interviewer-administered surveys when respondents initially refuse to answer a question or say they “don’t know.” … However, some researchers have suggested that probing can lead to poor data quality because respondents may guess at an answer when they are asked a […] Read more »