The Opinion Makers: An Insider Exposes the Truth Behind the Polls

Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 7:30 pm
First Parish in Cambridge
3 Church Street, Cambridge, MA

Free and Open to the Public

Americans typically trust the poll results published by respected media outlets --New York times/CBS News, Washington Post/ABC News, USA Today/Gallup -- yet who asks these polling company to justify their methods and results publicly?  To generate good headlines, do media outlets know what they want to learn from polls?   For example, in 2007, why did media outlets report solid leads for Clinton and Giulianni early in the campaign when both races were in fact wide open?

David W. Moore was a senior editor at the Gallup Poll for thirteen years.  Before that, he was professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire and the founder and director of the UNH Survey Center.  He is now a senior fellow with the Carsey Institute at UNH and author of two previous books, How to Steal an Electionand The Superpollsters.

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