Politics

Public Policy Polling or Controlling?

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For political junkies, the biggest names in polling, like Gallup and Mason-Dixon, never seem to offer new results frequently enough. But political reporters, like nature, abhor a vacuum, and so newer polling organizations have stepped in to fill the void, becoming widely cited and shaping the conventional wisdom about this year’s competitive races.

Among these newer organizations are Rasmussen Reports, the prolific firm headed by Scott Rasmussen, and Research 2000, which is currently embroiled in a messy, high-profile legal fight with its best-known client, the liberal website Daily Kos. Then there’s the Raleigh-based Public Policy Polling, founded in 2001 by businessman Dean Debnam.

In many ways, PPP has earned its status as a media favorite: It conducts lots of polls, provides detailed interpretations of what it thinks the results mean, asks timely and probing questions that hone in on the political world’s interests (like whether the president’s endorsement helps in high-profile Senate races), and even hosts online polls about which race it should poll next.

Full Story: Public Policy Polling or Controlling? – Jim Geraghty on National Review Online