Emerson Polling on Evolution of the Industry: The Conversation

Emerson Polling strategists Spencer Kimball, Camille Mumford, and Matt Taglia detail the trends and progression of polling in the United States and their current practices for the academic news outlet The Conversation, weeks away from the presidential election.

In the early days of the survey industry, being asked to participate in a poll was novel, and response rates were high. Today, we’re bombarded with survey requests via email, text, online pop-ups, and phone calls from unknown numbers. With fewer landlines, busy parents juggling work and family, and younger adults who rarely answer calls, preferring text communication, it has become much harder to engage respondents. This shift in behavior reflects the evolving challenges of reaching diverse populations in modern survey research.

Unlike traditional pollsters, Emerson College Polling does not rely on live operator data collection outside of small-scale tests of new survey methods to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of different polling approaches.

Instead, like most modern pollsters, we use a mix of approaches, including text-to-web surveys, interactive voice response on landlines, email outreach, and opt-in panels. This combination allows us to reach a broader, more representative audience, which is essential for accurate polling in today’s fragmented social and media landscape. This diverse population includes younger individuals who communicate through various platforms distinct from those used by older generations.

Read the piece.