Are opinion polls accurate?

<p>Do you know the 'proper' way to behave during meals? And what would be the worst thing someone could do while eating? This episode is all about etiquette, what makes good table manners and what is considered rude! Phil and Pippa discuss this and teach you some new vocabulary.< ... Show More

We all remember playgrounds when we were children – slides, swings, climbing frames. But have you heard of the new playgrounds which are designed to include things that others might consider junk... like old tyres and wooden pallets! Pippa and Phil discuss this and teach you some ... Show More

It makes our food tasty and our breath smelly, but what are some of the other uses of garlic...? Apart from warding off vampires, of course! Neil and Beth discuss this and teach you some new vocabulary.Find a full transcript, worksheet and interactive quiz for this episode at: ht ... Show More

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

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

The 2016 U.S. presidential election is over. And if you'd been following the polls, the results might have been surprising. What went wrong with those polls? It has to do with statistical and systematic uncertainties. Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2gnNRpX 

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

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+ ... Show More

<p>Nate Cohn, an expert on polling for The New York Times, knows that the predictions for the 2016 presidential election were bad.</p><p>But this year, he says, they were even worse.</p><p>So, what happened?</p><p>Nate talks us through a few of his theories and considers whether, ... Show More

<p>How can Democrats do a better job of messaging to voters? Which party is hurt more by Independent candidates? And are poll numbers as helpful as pundits claim? In this episode, Claire McCaskill and Jennifer Palmieri answer your listener questions.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplec ... Show More

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