Skeptical about the latest polls? Experts offer some advice.

The American Association for Public Opinion Research lists a dozen questions that journalists, and voters, should be asking when evaluating the credibility of political polls. Here they are:

1. Who paid for the poll and why was it done?
2. Who did the poll?
3. How was the poll conducted?
4. How many people were interviewed and what’s the margin of sampling error?
5. How were those people chosen? (Probability or non-probability sample? Random sampling? Non-random method?)
6. What area or what group were people chosen from? (That is, what was the population being represented?)
7. When were the interviews conducted?
8. How were the interviews conducted?
9. What questions were asked? Were they clearly worded, balanced and unbiased?
10. What order were the questions asked in? Could an earlier question influence the answer of a later question that is central to your story or the conclusions drawn?
11. Are the results based on the answers of all the people interviewed, or only a subset? If a subset, how many?
12. Were the data weighted, and if so, to what?

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12 questions to ask about political polls

by Bridge Staff, Bridge Michigan
October 28, 2014

<h1>12 questions to ask about political polls</h1> <p class="byline">by Bridge Staff, Bridge Michigan <br />October 28, 2014</p> <div class="wp-related"><img src="https://bridgemi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/skeptical-1.jpg" alt="Skeptical about the latest polls? Experts offer some advice." class="size-full wp-image-23377"> Skeptical about the latest polls? Experts offer some advice.</p> </div> <p><a href="http://www.aapor.org/Questions_to_Ask_When_Writing_About_Polls2.htm#.VEfMnPldWFV">The American Association for Public Opinion Research</a> lists a dozen questions that journalists, and voters, should be asking when evaluating the credibility of political polls. Here they are:</p> <ol class="wp-block-list"> <li>Who paid for the poll and why was it done?</li> <li>Who did the poll?</li> <li>How was the poll conducted?</li> <li>How many people were interviewed and what’s the <a href="http://www.aapor.org/What_is_the_Margin_of_Sampling_Error_1.htm#.VErAw_ldWMM">margin of sampling error</a>?</li> <li>How were those people chosen? (Probability or non-probability sample? <a href="http://www.aapor.org/What_is_a_Random_Sample_1.htm#.VErA6fldWMM ">Random sampling</a>? Non-random method?)</li> <li>What area or what group were people chosen from? (That is, what was the population being represented?)</li> <li>When were the interviews conducted?</li> <li>How were the interviews conducted?</li> <li>What questions were asked? Were they clearly worded, balanced and unbiased?</li> <li>What order were the questions asked in? Could an earlier question influence the answer of a later question that is central to your story or the conclusions drawn?</li> <li>Are the results based on the answers of all the people interviewed, or only a subset? If a subset, how many?</li> <li>Were the <a href="http://www.aapor.org/Weighting1.htm#.VErBGPldWMM">data weighted</a>, and if so, to what?</li> </ol> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://bridgemi.com/michigan-government/12-questions-ask-about-political-polls/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://bridgemi.com&quot;&gt;Bridge Michigan&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/bridgemi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/cropped-android-chrome-192x192-1.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://bridgemi.com/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=10815&amp;amp;ga4=G-1E2G9MSHX5&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://bridgemi.com/michigan-government/12-questions-ask-about-political-polls/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/bridgemi.com/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;</p> Copy to Clipboard

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