S1 EP 1: Polling 101 the Basics of Voter Opinion Polling

In the debut episode of Smarter Politics, the team at Magellan Strategies break down what determines if a poll is right or wrong, how polls are conducted (including the differences in robocalling and cell phone interviews), online interviews, weighting, and why conducting an opinions survey on social media networking sites like Facebook and Twitter present big challenges to pollsters.

In this episode:

Segment #1 - Voter Demographics

What are they and why are they important Colorado’s Registration Demographics as an example Voter demographics from the 2012 Colorado general election What demographic questions are important and what is irrelevant for a campaign

Segment #2 – Survey Sample

What is it and where do pollsters get it? Telephone sample, online sample, voter file sample Cell phone vs. landline issues for telephone and coverage problems with younger and minority voters What is an online panel and what problems does it create with voter surveys The potential of Facebook surveys

Segment #3 – Weighting

How weighting works Weighted and unweighted telephone survey results How statistical software actually works

Segment #4 – How to Use Survey Results to Make Decisions

Candidate/incumbent image rating info and how it is used to define or introduce a candidate to certain voters. Issue preference