Support for marijuana legalization continues to rise
Today, 57% of U.S. adults say use of marijuana should be made legal, while 37% say it should be illegal. A decade ago, opinion was nearly the reverse.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Methods
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Perceptions and realities of recycling vary widely from place to place
The rules, practices and norms around recycling vary considerably from place to place – contributing to dramatically different local recycling levels and rates at which different materials are recovered.
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5 key things to know about the margin of error in election polls
Some of the better-known statistical rules of thumb that a smart consumer might think apply in polls are more nuanced than they seem. In other words, as is so often the case in life, it’s complicated.
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Text Message Notification for Web Surveys
By Kyley McGeeney and H. Yanna Yan Text messaging has grown in popularity in recent years, leading survey researchers to explore ways texts might be used as tools in the public opinion research process. In the U.S., at least, researchers must obtain consent from respondents before they are permitted to send an automated text. This […]
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House seats rarely flip from one party to the other
Big partisan shifts in the House of Representatives happen, but not often. In only three of the past 12 election cycles has one party posted a net gain of more than 30 seats, and on average 93% of House members who seek re-election are voted back into office.
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Split-ticket districts, once common, are now rare
In 2012, only 26 House districts out of 435 chose one party’s presidential nominee and the other party’s candidate for the House.
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Flashpoints in Polling
Many people wonder: Can polls be trusted? The following essay contains a big-picture review of the state of polling, organized around a number of key areas.
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The Twilight of Landline Interviewing
By Courtney Kennedy, Kyley McGeeney and Scott Keeter Now that over 90% of U.S. adults have cellphones,[1. Stephen J. Blumberg and Julian V. Luke. Wireless substitution: Early Release of Estimates From the National Health Interview Survey, July–December 2015. National Center for Health Statistics. May 2016. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm] survey researchers are considering whether it is necessary […]
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Moving Without Changing Your Cellphone Number: A Predicament for Pollsters
By Meredith Dost and Kyley McGeeney Each year about 36 million Americans move residences, according to the Census Bureau. And they quite often take their cellphone numbers with them. Others have not moved but bought their cellphone in a different state. The net result, according to new Pew Research Center estimates, is that 10% of […]
