Our Polls Are on the Mark. I Think.

Washington Post by Jon Cohen | Nov. 2, 2008 (Opinion)

January, you may recall, was a rough month for the pollsters. All the polls showed Sen. Barack Obama poised to follow up his big win in the Iowa caucuses with a knockout blow to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the New Hampshire primary. But he lost, sending the 13 firms that did public pre-election polls there scrambling for explanations.

Could polling be similarly embarrassed this month, misjudging the last chapter of this epic presidential ... Full Story »

Posted by Fabrice Florin

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Kristin Gorski
4.4
 by Kristin Gorski - Nov. 1, 2008

Written by The Washington Post's polling director, this introspective, honest op-ed explains the science and subtlety of polling, and his personal nerves and jitters based on polling's history. His descriptions of how polls work, what other pollsters are finding, and reflections on 1948 and 1980 polling snafus are clearly written, accessible and interesting.

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