The folly in questions people can’t answer

… A team of distinguished researchers led by David Rothschild of Microsoft and Tobias Konitzer of Predictwise analyzed the relationship between survey responses to media usage questions used by pollsters and hard behavioral data about what people actually do, gleaned from their electronic devices. Just as voter files offer hard […] Read more »

When noted journalists bashed political polls as nothing more than ‘a fragmentary snapshot’ of a moment in time

Legendary New York City columnist Jimmy Breslin, right, ready to do shoe-leather journalistic research in a bar, said preelection polls were “monstrous frauds.” Michael Brennan/Getty Images W. Joseph Campbell, American University School of Communication Poll-bashing – the aggressive, even extreme lambasting of pollsters and their work – used to be […] Read more »

Rating Changes: Maine Senate Moves to Leans Democratic

Key Points• The passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg introduces an explosive new issue into the 2020 contests, although it may not fundamentally alter the race.• Based on trends in public polling, and with a potential assist from Maine’s ranked-choice voting system, we’re moving that state’s critical Senate […] Read more »

Why Biden and Trump are fighting over one electoral vote in Nebraska

Some states, it seems, get all the attention in presidential elections. You probably know most of them by now: Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, etc. But beyond the big prizes lie the smallest prizes in the competitive races: Maine’s 2nd Congressional District (one electoral vote), Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District (one electoral […] Read more »