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 »

6th Annual Top 10 Dubious Polling Awards

Editor’s Note: iMediaEthics’ polling director David Moore collects the ten most dubious polls from the prior year in his annual Dubious Polling Awards. 10. Goldilocks and Three Bears Award – to Pew, Gallup and Rasmussen Like Goldilocks tasting the porridge – one that was too hot, another too cold, and […] Read more »

In Tokyo elections, Twitter reveals voter preferences in a way surveys do not

… In many elections, voters choose their candidate along party lines. But in the case of the Tokyo governor, issues are believed to be more important than the party. We want to understand which issues are important, and how these issues vary across Tokyo. The Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shinbun has […] Read more »

What Ezra Klein and Nate Silver can learn from Grantland about analytical journalism

… Not only are videos and data more easily accessible in sports than politics, but sports statistics represent the cumulation of directly observed actions, whereas the influences on, say, public opinion are not filmed and measured over time. Nonetheless, it’s worth thinking about how political coverage can go beyond chartblogging […] Read more »