logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2022
28m 13s

Planet Money tries election polling

NPR
About this episode
Polling is facing an existential crisis. Few people are answering the phone, and fewer people want to answer surveys. On today's show, we pick up the phones ourselves to find out how polling got to this place, and what the future of the poll looks like.

Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Yesterday
Made in America
What people might picture when they think of "Made in America" ... might not look like the "Made in America" we have today.The U.S. does have a domestic manufacturing industry, including a garment manufacturing industry. In today's episode: We buy a garment made by factory worker ... Show More
30m 49s
Jul 9
Summer School 1: A government's role in the economy is to make us all richer
Government. The Big G. We like to imagine the free market and the invisible hand as being independent from political influence. But Nobel laureate, Simon Johnson, says that influence has been there since the birth of economics. Call it political economy. Call it government and bu ... Show More
35m 46s
Jul 4
The simple math of the big bill
If we think about the economic effects of President Donald Trumps big taxing and spending and domestic policy bill, we can roughly sum it up in one line. It goes something like this: We will make many big tax cuts permanent and pay for those tax cuts by cutting Medicaid and a few ... Show More
32m 12s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2019
Lab 015: Big Poll Energy
The primary election is in full swing, and our feeds are full of political polls that are surveying everything from who’s on top, to each candidates favorite comfort food. In this episode, Titi & Zakiya dive into polling to understand survey methodology (how polls are designed) a ... Show More
31m 7s
Oct 2023
Is Polling a Science or an Art?
The outcome of a race is ultimately up to voters to decide. And while polls aren’t always perfect, they can be helpful to gauge support for a candidate and inform decisions for a campaign. CNN Political Director David Chalian sits down with prominent Republican pollster Neil Newh ... Show More
21m 45s
Oct 2022
AMERICA HAS A (POLLING) PROBLEM
Pollsters are starting to panic. There’s headline after headline after headline ahead of the midterms on whether this election cycle’s polling is accurate or not. How does polling actually work? Is it really representative of how voters are feeling and what the outcome will be on ... Show More
56m 36s
Sep 2020
How Election Polling Works and Doesn't Work
Election polling had a pretty good rep until 2016. But it turns out they weren't far off even then. It's really the media driving the narrative. Learn all about how election polling works today. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudi ... Show More
46m 59s
Oct 2020
A Hot Civil War Approaches | A TED Talk on Polling | 10/19/20
Steve reacts to the news from the weekend, provides a polling 'splainer on why the public polls' methodology stinks once again, and discusses why (regardless of the election outcome) the country is headed for a hot civil war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/a ... Show More
1h 35m
Nov 2016
Why Did The Polls Get it Wrong (Or Did They)?
Hillary Clinton lost the US election despite some polls putting her chances of winning at 99%.In the run up to the vote pollsters spent huge sums of money speaking to thousands of Americans. They were careful to collect the best possible data from representative samples, and they ... Show More
22m 58s
Oct 2022
From straw poll to opinion poll
Today, we can’t imagine an election without an opinion poll gauging public opinion on who’s leading, who’s won a debate or who’s more popular with a specific group of voters. Even our favourite chocolate bars and footballers are subject to a poll. But how did straw polls evolve i ... Show More
39m 23s
May 2024
Voters Want Change. In Our Poll, They See It in Trump.
The latest Times polling shows the extent of the challenge that President Biden faces and the strengths that Donald J. Trump retains. A yearning for change — as well as discontent over the economy and the war in Gaza among young, Black and Hispanic voters — may lie behind both.Na ... Show More
31m 40s
Aug 2023
Ohio Voters Weigh In On Abortion (Indirectly)
Tuesday is Election Day in Ohio and it’s a bit of an unusual one. Ohioans are voting on whether to increase the threshold to pass constitutional amendments from a simple majority to a 60 percent supermajority. In this installment of the podcast, Galen Druke speaks with senior ele ... Show More
1h 1m
May 2022
Poll analysis: how could this election journey end?
In the last few days of Australia’s federal election campaign we’ve seen the polls tighten and Labor’s lead shrink. Guardian Australia political editor Katharine Murphy and the executive director of Essential, Peter Lewis, unpack the Guardian Essential poll. As undecided voters s ... Show More
54m 25s