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The Indicator from Planet Money

Five tips for understanding political polls this election season

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.79.5K Ratings

🗓️ 18 January 2024

⏱️ 12 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Election season is upon us, and so is the barrage of election polls. What differentiates a good poll from a bad one? How can we be smarter poll consumers? Today on the show, a couple of polling experts give us their top tips.

Related episodes:
Planet Money tries election polling

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Transcript

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0:00.0

NPR. If you pay pay any sort of attention to the news, it seems like you cannot go a single day without

0:16.7

hearing about the results of some new poll.

0:20.0

With new CBS news polling showing that many Americans believe

0:22.8

their standard of living is worse than their parents.

0:26.0

Polls on the big issues of the day,

0:28.1

from the economy and health care

0:30.1

to crime and government spending.

0:32.0

And of course, all the election polls.

0:35.2

Donald Trump continuing to have an enormous lead over the Republican field Trump.

0:39.8

Biden Trump rematch in six battleground states, the incumbent is trailing the

0:44.7

former president in all but Wisconsin. Well I will say I think your poll is a bit of

0:49.0

an outlier. And with a huge election year ahead, the Avalanche Polls is just getting started.

0:56.0

This is the indicator from Planet Money, I'm Wailin Wong.

0:59.0

And I'm Adrian Ma.

1:00.0

Normally on the show, we focus on economic indicators as a way to help us understand our complicated world

1:05.9

But you know political polls can also do that too as sort of political indicators

1:11.4

If they're done well and if you know how to make sense of them.

1:14.6

So what separates a good poll from a bad one?

1:18.1

What should we know in order to be smarter poll consumers?

1:21.5

Today on the show, five tips from a couple of polling experts.

1:32.2

This message comes from NPR sponsor Morgan Stanley.

1:35.4

Inclusion is fuel for innovation.

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