The UMass Poll partners with YouGov, one of the world’s most trusted online survey research firms, to field its surveys. Our samples are drawn from YouGov’s member panel of over 27 million respondents. Respondents in each sample are matched to a political representative sampling frame of U.S. adults according to gender, age, race, and education. This sampling frame is constructed based on demographic and voter history data from the American Community Survey (ACS) public use microdata file, public voter file records, the Current Population Survey (CPS) voting and registration supplements, the National Election Pool (NEP) exit polls, and the Cooperative Election Survey (CES).
Online samples have been found to be as accurate as telephone surveys on most measures. Due to their flexibility, internet-based samples are becoming a leading source of information about public opinion in the U.S. and around the world.
How do we decide which questions to poll?
The goal of the UMass Poll is to move beyond horse-race political coverage to explore the political attitudes of the American public on timely political issues.
Prior to each poll, the UMass Poll team spends a month or more assessing the political landscape, cataloguing a list of broad themes and debates in Congress and in state legislatures. UMass Poll faculty and graduate students then draft methodologically grounded survey questions to capture the central topics. That may include questions about specific policies under consideration or more abstract concepts such as political priorities, emotions, or values. The list of final questions is winnowed based on continued relevance, and additional questions are crafted as news stories emerge.
See our Frequently Asked Questions page for more answers.