Polls, Pollsters, and Public Opinion

A vast literature exists on theories of public opinion - how to measure, analyze, predict, and influence it; however, there is no synthesis of best practices for interpreting public opinion: existing knowledge is disparate and spread across many disciplines. Polls, Pollsters, and Public Opinion presents a systematic analytical approach for understanding, predicting, and engaging public opinion. It tells the story through the eyes of the pollster and draws an analytical road map for examining public opinion, both conceptually and practically. Providing a theoretical and conceptual foundation, as well as debunking popular myths, this book delves into the science of polling, offering tools analysts can use to assess the quality of polls. It also introduces methods that can be used to predict elections and other socio-political outcomes while understanding the nuances of messaging, engaging, and moving public opinion.

Clifford Young is President of Ipsos Public Affairs in the United States and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS. He is an expert on consumer and public opinion trends, corporate reputation, elections and scenario construction. He also oversees Ipsos' media partnerships, including ABC News, Axios, NPR, Thomson Reuters, USA Today, the Washington Post, among others. Kathryn Ziemer is a Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Director at Old Town Psychology. She founded Old Town Psychology in 2018 and has built it into an award-winning mental health clinic that combines research and clinical work. She is an expert on attitude formation, emotion development, cognitive biases, and behavior change. She previously worked as a Research Scientist at Ipsos Public Affairs.