Online opt-in polls can produce misleading results, especially for young people and Hispanic adults
We examine how an opt-in poll may have unintentionally misled the public about the sensitive issue of Holocaust denial among young Americans.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
We examine how an opt-in poll may have unintentionally misled the public about the sensitive issue of Holocaust denial among young Americans.
National polls like the Center’s come within a few percentage points, on average, of benchmarks from high response rate federal surveys.
Many who follow polls are asking how these errors could happen. Here, we’ll take a preliminary shot at answering that question.
The real environment in which polls are conducted bears little resemblance to the idealized settings presented in textbooks.
The rise of internet polling makes it more feasible to publish estimates for Asian Americans. But these estimates offer a limited view.
While the notion that polls should include equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats makes some sense, it’s based on a misunderstanding of what polling is intended to do.
The Center conducts polls in many countries other than the U.S. – but the methodology behind our international surveys can vary.
What does the migration to online polling mean for the country’s trove of public opinion data gathered over the past four decades?
Response rates to telephone public opinion polls conducted by Pew Research Center have resumed their decline, to 7% in 2017 and 6% in 2018.
Pew Research Center conducts surveys over the phone and, increasingly, online. But these two formats don’t always produce identical results.
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ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts.
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