To gauge each sample’s accuracy on general population estimates for all U.S. adults, we calculated the weighted percentage of adults belonging to 77 categories across 28 different variables and compared them to corresponding benchmarks derived from high-quality government data sources. The benchmarks covered a variety of topics, including voting, health, and respondents’ work, family and […]
Pew Research Center conducted a study to compare the accuracy of six online surveys of U.S. adults – three from probability-based panels and three from opt-in sources. On average, the absolute error on opt-in samples was about twice that of probability-based panels.
Abortion has risen as an election issue for Latinos, with a majority saying it should be legal in all or most cases. Meanwhile, 80% say the economy is a very important issue when deciding who to vote for in the upcoming congressional midterm elections, a greater share than any other issue.
The accuracy of general population estimates is only one facet of data quality for online samples. Frequently, survey researchers also want to understand the similarities and differences between subgroups within the population. For probability-based panels recruited using ABS, obtaining a sufficiently large sample of respondents belonging to small subgroups can be particularly costly, and one […]
The complexity of the overall system, varying rules on how and when you can vote, and whether the candidate you support wins or loses all impact trust in the election process.