Voter's Guide to Election Polls

Michael W. Traugott, PhD, is a political scientist and survey methodologist. He is professor emeritus at the University of Michigan. He has served as the president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and the World Association for Public Opinion Research. Paul J. Lavrakas, PhD, is a research psychologist and methodological research consultant. He was the founding faculty director of survey centers at Northwestern and Ohio State universities, a chief methodologist for Nielsen Media Research, as well as former president of the AAPOR.

• IntroductionChapter 1 What Are Polls and Surveys? And Why Are They Conducted?Chapter 2 What Are Election Polls? How Are They Conducted?Chapter 3 How Do Political Candidates and Organizations Use Poll Data?Chapter 4 How Do News Organizations Collect and Report Poll Data?Chapter 5 Why Do Pollsters Use Samples?Chapter 6 How Are Questionnaires Put Together?Chapter 7 How Are Data Gathered for Election Polls?Chapter 8 How Do Media Organizations Analyze Polls?Chapter 9 How Can I Evaluate Published Poll Results?Chapter 10 What Are Some Common Problems and Complaints about Polls and the Media's Use of Them?EpilogueAppendix A: Standards for Disclosing Information about the Methodology of Public PollsAppendix B: Sample Tolerances (Sampling Errors) for Samples of Different SizesGlossarySelected ReferencesAbout the Authors

The Voter’s Guide to Election Polls is an accessible text that stands as a valuable resource for anyone interested in understanding how polling works and the role it plays in informing electoral politics. It is notable that the authors discuss essential terminology and concepts using timely examples that help readers make connections to modern electoral politics while also illuminating the practice of survey research generally, since it has applications beyond the political sphere. Consequently, this text efficiently traverses many academic domains as well as being of potential interest to the discerning non-academician who wants to know how polling works.