Polls: There Is An Art & Science To Accurate Polling

With so many polls coming out each and every day ahead of the election, how do we know which ones are really accurate?

"Most of the polls you're seeing, there's an election in a month and a half and if you're wrong, you look bad" said Daron Shaw, UT Professor and FOX News pollster, "But there are obviously partisan polls that are very interested in promoting the chances of their candidate. The ones that are released, they're probably released for a reason."

And even though there are so many polls, and they are released so frequently, there is an art to accurate polling.

"There's art and science" Shaw told KTRH, "I deal with this all the time, there's a statistical side of it, and there is crafting appropriate questions and response options, and there's not necessarily a right answer and that's where the art comes in."

So, with that said, which polls should we pay attention to? We checked in with another polling guru, Matt Towery with Insider Advantage.

"You want to rely on pollsters who have been around for awhile, who have been a part of the Real Clear Politics average" Towery told KTRH, "There's a group of pollsters, probably 20 or so that rated by RCP every two years for how we do."

Some on that list include Insider Advantage of course, FOX News, and Marquette University.

Photo: marketlan / iStock / Getty Images


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