US Pollsters Raise Concerns with Media Coverage

Nineteen prominent US pollsters have published an open letter expressing concern about the proliferation of dubious polls and their 'sometimes uncritical' coverage by the media.

The letter says many polls 'contain inadequate information on how they were conducted' and draws attention to the 'clear and extensive' standards for the report of publicly released research studies set out by the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR); 'though the letter is not from AAPOR itself, the association's officials have reacted positively to it.

The authors urge the media to examine whether polls meet AAPOR standards, including full and complete disclosure of sample design and question wording, rather than just looking for a good story: 'The unfortunate reality is that polls that show the most dramatic numbers in terms of candidates' winning and losing often draw the most media response. It is therefore especially critical to subject such polls to rigorous examination.'

They also describe as 'unfortunate' the practice of judging polls by their accuracy in the closing weeks of an election 'rather than by the professionalism with which they were conducted', noting the potential of such polls to 'shape media and donor reactions to election contests' at crucial moments. Elements of polling addressed in the AAPOR standards include sample frames and demographics, inclusion of cell phones, bilingual interviewing and the asking of 'other potentially biasing questions prior to the horse race': these are, according to the letter, 'especially important in accurately polling hard to reach groups, particularly young voters, low income voters, African American voters, Latino voters, and others for whom English is a second language.'

Signatories to the letter are:

John Anzalone, President, Anzalone Liszt Research
Whit Ayres, President of Ayres, McHenry & Associates Open Letter on Public Polling
Joel Benenson, President, Benenson Strategy Group
Linda DiVall, President, American Viewpoint
Diane T. Feldman, President, The Feldman Group, Inc.
Alex Gage, CEO, Target Point Consulting
Ed Goeas, President and CEO, The Tarrance Group
Lisa Grove, President, Grove Insight
Paul Harstad, Harstad Strategic Research, INC
Celinda Lake, President, Lake Research Partners
Bill Lee, Partner, Tel Opinion Research
Christine Matthews, President, Bellwether Research & Consulting
Bob Moore, President, Moore Information
Dave Petts, Partner, Bennet, Petts & Normington
W.D. McInturff, Partner, Public Opinion Strategies, LLC
Andrew Myers, President, Myers Research
Jefrey Pollock, President, Global Strategy Group
Jan R. Van Lohuizen, President, Voter Consumer Research
Al Quinlan, President, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.


Web site: www.aapor.org .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.