If the most sophisticated pollsters missed a key group of citizens in the election, how can PR practitioners remain comfortable using surveys to drive and assess their work? The fact is that most polling has been and will continue to be broken. The problem is with getting a universal sample. Phone and online polling both lack representative samples and are largely junk. Pollsters can no longer depend on home phone numbers for reaching the populace. Most people are on cell phones. Online polling is inherently biased toward those who take the time to fill out questionnaires. While the author of the article expresses optimism that polling companies will figure out how to tap into universal samples, the last three elections have shown that polling has gone awry and no one has found a way yet to fix the problem. Right now, surveys are caveat emptor.
Marston Strategic Communications
Communicators Who Get Results