Public Policy Polling
Encyclopedia
Public Policy Polling is an American Democratic Party
-affiliated polling firm based in Raleigh
, North Carolina
. PPP was founded in 2001 by businessman and Democratic pollster Dean Debnam, the firm's current president and chief executive officer
. The company's surveys
use Interactive Voice Response
(IVR), an automated questionnaire
used by other polling firms such as SurveyUSA
and Rasmussen Reports
.
PPP's polls have been described as very accurate in the 2008 U.S. presidential election
by The Wall Street Journal
and Mark Blumenthal, senior polling editor of the Huffington Post and the founding editor of Pollster.com, among others. Although being affiliated with the Democratic Party, PPP has not exhibited a Democratic bias in its polling results; according to Nate Silver of Fivethirtyeight.com, PPP actually had a small pro-Republican bias in its 2010 polling results.
In 2010, PPP was the first pollster to find Scott Brown with a lead over Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts Senate special election; Brown ultimately won in what was considered an upset.
In 2011, PPP was praised for its accuracy in polling primaries and special elections, which are notoriously hard to predict. The contests they accurately predicted include the West Virginia gubernatorial primaries, special elections in New York and California, as well as all eight Wisconsin recall elections.
PPP has been known for asking unexpected and unusual questions, including those without bearing on politics, such as the approval rating of God, and the percentage of voters who believe President Obama would be eligible for entering heaven in the event of the Rapture. Many of these questions come from suggestions by PPP readers on the company's weblog.
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
-affiliated polling firm based in Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. PPP was founded in 2001 by businessman and Democratic pollster Dean Debnam, the firm's current president and chief executive officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
. The company's surveys
Survey sampling
In statistics, survey sampling describes the process of selecting a sample of elements from a target population in order to conduct a survey.A survey may refer to many different types or techniques of observation, but in the context of survey sampling it most often involves a questionnaire used to...
use Interactive Voice Response
Interactive voice response
Interactive voice response is a technology that allows a computer to interact with humans through the use of voice and DTMF keypad inputs....
(IVR), an automated questionnaire
Questionnaire
A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. Although they are often designed for statistical analysis of the responses, this is not always the case...
used by other polling firms such as SurveyUSA
SurveyUSA
SurveyUSA is a polling firm in the United States. It conducts market research for corporations and interest groups, but is best known for conducting opinion polls for various political offices and questions...
and Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports is an American media company that publishes and distributes information based on public opinion polling. Founded by pollster Scott Rasmussen in 2003, the company updates daily indexes including the President's job approval rating, and provides public opinion data, analysis, and...
.
PPP's polls have been described as very accurate in the 2008 U.S. presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
by The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
and Mark Blumenthal, senior polling editor of the Huffington Post and the founding editor of Pollster.com, among others. Although being affiliated with the Democratic Party, PPP has not exhibited a Democratic bias in its polling results; according to Nate Silver of Fivethirtyeight.com, PPP actually had a small pro-Republican bias in its 2010 polling results.
History
PPP first entered prominence through their performance in the 2008 Democratic primaries between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The company performed very well, producing extremely accurate predictions in many states ranging from South Carolina to Wisconsin, many of which featured inaccurate results by other pollsters.In 2010, PPP was the first pollster to find Scott Brown with a lead over Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts Senate special election; Brown ultimately won in what was considered an upset.
In 2011, PPP was praised for its accuracy in polling primaries and special elections, which are notoriously hard to predict. The contests they accurately predicted include the West Virginia gubernatorial primaries, special elections in New York and California, as well as all eight Wisconsin recall elections.
PPP has been known for asking unexpected and unusual questions, including those without bearing on politics, such as the approval rating of God, and the percentage of voters who believe President Obama would be eligible for entering heaven in the event of the Rapture. Many of these questions come from suggestions by PPP readers on the company's weblog.
Partnership with Dailykos
Many PPP election polls were commissioned by the liberal website Dailykos, although the company states that most of its revenue comes from other sources. .Errors
Not all of the polls by Public Policy Polling have been accurate; the company has had its share of inaccurate results. Among the most notable of its mispredictions were that of the 2008 Democratic presidential primary in Pennsylvania (in which it predicted an Obama victory; Clinton ultimately won by 9-10%), and that in the 2009 special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District. In New York, the official Republican candidate dropped out of the race and endorsed the Democratic candidate while PPP was in the field interviewing voters. PPP's results showed the conservative candidate with a large lead; in the end, the Democrat won with a 2.3% lead.External links
- Public Policy Polling official website
- "Pollsters Discuss Public Opinion On The Health Care Bill", commentary by PPP's Dean Debnam, CNBCCNBCCNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
- "Political Connections", commentary by PPP's Tom Jensen, News 14 CarolinaNews 14 CarolinaNews 14 Carolina is a 24-hour cable news service offered in North Carolina, USA, by Time Warner Cable on its cable TV systems in the state. There are News 14 Carolina television channels in Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, and Wilmington each primarily with local news but some local programming...