Political Polling

Information is crucial for candidates in political campaigns. This book, written by someone who has polled for 23 years, first focuses on the process of acquiring information during a campaign through polling. The book describes how to write questions, draw samples of voters, and conduct calling. The second major concern of the book is how to analyze results, and then interpret and present results in a way that will contribute to forming a strategy for a campaign. The book deals with the issues of biased questions and results, and why it is of no value to candidates to engage in such practices.

Professor Stonecash combines his twenty years of polling experience with academic theory to show how and why polling is done and how information can be used to help win elections.

Jeffrey Stonecash is professor of political science at Syracuse University.