Doug Schwartz, director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, is available for comment on Connecticut polls and politics as well as questions regarding methodology. He can be reached by phone at 203-582-5201 or by e-mail at schwartz@quinnipiac.edu.
Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, is available for comment on Florida, Ohio, Virginia and national polls and can be reached via e-mail at peter.brown@quinnipiac.edu.
Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, is available for comment on Pennsylvania polls and can be reached via e-mail at timothy.malloy@quinnipiac.edu.
April A. Radocchio, associate director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, can be contacted to obtain copies or information regarding archived poll releases. Please call 203-582-5295 or e-mail april.radocchio@quinnipiac.edu. If you would prefer a copy to be e-mailed, please specify choice of Microsoft Word document or a text file.
For general information, e-mail the Polling Institute at pollinginstitute@quinnipiac.edu.
Methodology
The poll is based on a random sample of adults, 18 years of age and older. A random sample is one in which everyone in the population has an equal chance of being selected.
We typically report the poll results based on registered voters (self identified), rather than all adults, because our polls focus on politics and elections. As we get closer to an election, we report the results based on likely voters.
We use screen questions to determine likely voters. We use different screen questions depending on the election (ie. primary vs general election, presidential vs. off-year election, etc.). In past elections, we have used questions measuring intention to vote, attention to the campaign, past voting behavior, and interest in politics to identify who is likely vote.
Only adults are interviewed because we use the demographic information for weighting purposes. Weighting is a statistical adjustment of the data. Gender, age, education, race, and region are the demographics that are weighted to reflect census information.
We use random digit dial (RDD) sampling. In RDD sampling, phone numbers are randomly generated by a computer. RDD is used to ensure that both listed and unlisted phone numbers have a chance of being included in the sample. We purchase our samples from Survey Sampling in Shelton, Conn.
Typically, the field period for interviewing is four to seven days. We call from 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Friday and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday. Additional hours are added to weekend calling during busier polling times.
If there is a no answer, we will "call back" that number. We will call every number where there is a no answer at least three times. We do call cell phones. This is important to do because more than a quarter of the nation is cell only and young people are much more likely than older people to be cell only.
We do interview in Spanish if a respondent prefers to be interviewed in Spanish.
We use live callers, not prerecorded voices. Our interviewer staff is a mix of students and non-students who are professionally trained and closely monitored.
We have 150 Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) stations. Our CATI software is WebCATI from CfMC (Computers for Marketing Corporation).
Mission Statement
The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute conducts timely and accurate public opinion polls on politics and public policy in Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and nationally as a public service and for academic research.