Quinnipiac University Polling Institute
| Headquarters |
275 Mount Carmel Avenue Hamden, Connecticut |
|---|---|
| Affiliations | Quinnipiac University |
Staff | 160[1] |
| Website |
www |
The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute is a public opinion polling center based at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. It surveys public opinion in Connecticut, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, and nationally.[2]
It is considerably larger than other academic polling centers, including the Franklin & Marshall College Poll, which only surveys Pennsylvania.[1] The organization employs about 160 interviewers, generally drawing from political science, communications, psychology, and sociology majors, as well as some interviewers that are not affiliated with the university.[1] The poll has a full-time staff of ten.[1] The university does not disclose the Institute's operating budget, and the poll does not accept clients or outside funding.[1]
In 2007, the institute underwent construction of a new two-story building that was expected to double its available capacity to 160 calling cubicles.[1] The purpose of the capacity expansion was to allow the institute to poll multiple states at once, rectifying a problem that arose during the 2006 Connecticut Senate election where other polls were canceled to support that poll.[1]
The polling operation began informally in 1988 in conjunction with a marketing class.[3] It became formal in 1994 when the university hired a CBS News analyst to assess the data being gained.[3] It subsequently focused on the Northeastern states, gradually expanding during presidential elections to cover swing states as well.[3] The institute is funded by the university.[3] Quinnipiac University is widely known for its poll;[4] the publicity it has generated has been credited with increasing the university's enrollment.[1]
The poll has been cited by major news outlets throughout North America and Europe, including The Washington Post,[5] Fox News,[6] USA Today,[7] The New York Times,[8] CNN,[9] and Reuters.[10] Quinnipiac's Polling Institute receives national recognition for its independent surveys of residents throughout the United States. It conducts public opinion polls on politics and public policy as a public service as well as for academic research.[1][3] Andrew S. Tanenbaum, the founder of the poll-analysis website Electoral-vote.com, compared major pollsters' performances in the 2010 midterm Senate elections and concluded that Quinnipiac was the most accurate, with a mean error of 2.0 percent.[11]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Lieberman, Brett (April 9, 2007). "Behind the scenes at the Q-Poll". Patriot-News. Archived from the original on October 27, 2009.
- ↑ "Polling Institute Contacts and Information". www.quinnipiac.edu. Quinnipiac University.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Lapidos, Juliet (October 16, 2008). "What's With All the "Quinnipiac University" Polls? How an obscure school in Connecticut turned into a major opinion research center.". Slate.
- ↑ Weinreb, Michael (December 26, 2007). "New Quinnipiac Coach Is Expected to Build a Winner". The New York Times. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
- ↑ LaCruz, Donna (October 31, 2006). "Polls: Menendez Leads Kean in N.J. Race". Washington Post.
- ↑ "Poll: Lieberman Leads Challenger Lamont in Connecticut Senate Race". Fox News Channel. August 17, 2006.
- ↑ "Quinnipiac Poll: Giuliani still leads GOP hopefuls, but by much less". USA Today. May 21, 2010. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ↑ Kapochunas, Rachel (July 13, 2007). "Poll Tests ‘New York-New York-New York’ Race in Ohio". New York Times.
- ↑ Boyette, Chris. "Poll: Majority of New Yorkers approve of NYPD surveillance of Muslims". CNN.
- ↑ Sulivan, Andy (Jun 26, 2008). "Obama leads in four battleground states: poll". Reuters.
- ↑ Tanenbaum, Andrew S. (November 9, 2010). "Analysis of the Pollsters". Electoral-vote.com. Retrieved 2011-01-24.