Methods

Here, we discuss the findings of a comprehensive report about the polling errors of 2020 and their implications for polling.

A new analysis of 2020 validated voters examines change and continuity in the electorate, both of which contributed to Joe Biden’s victory. It looks at how new voters and voters who turned out in either 2016, 2018 or both voted in the 2020 presidential election, and offers a detailed portrait of the demographic composition of the 2020 electorate.

About two-thirds of Americans (65%) say their best guess is that intelligent life exists on other planets.

A new evaluation of the Center's national American Trends Panel finds little evidence that panel estimates are affected by errors associated with panel conditioning, a phenomenon that occurs when survey participation changes respondents’ true or reported behavior over time.

The difference in support for the death penalty by survey mode has important consequences for understanding trends on the issue.

In 2020, Pew Research Center launched a new project called the National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS). NPORS is an annual, cross-sectional survey of U.S. adults. Respondents can answer either by paper or online, and they are selected using address-based sampling from the United States Postal Service’s computerized delivery sequence file.

Looking at final estimates of the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential race, 93% of national polls overstated the Democratic candidate’s support among voters, while nearly as many (88%) did so in 2016.

Polling organizations have taken close looks at how election surveys are designed, administered and analyzed. We are no exception.

Given the errors in 2016 and 2020 election polling, how much should we trust polls that attempt to measure opinions on issues?

124 lawmakers today identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander or Native American, a 97% increase over the 107th Congress of 2001-02.