The
Practical Researcher
JANINE A. PARRY
University of Arkansas
BRIAN KISIDA
University of Arkansas
RONALD E. LANGLEY
University of Kentucky
The State of State Polls: Old Challenges,
New Opportunities
The prospect of a full complement of regularly-conducted, publicly-released statelevel
polls has both excited and eluded scholars of state politics and public opinion
for decades. Here, we examine the current status of state-level polling in the U.S.
Specifically, we rely on interviews with 51 state poll directors to investigate the location,
frequency, scope, budget, purpose, content, and perceived policy impact of
such projects. We also explore the still challenging prospect of greater state-to-state
collaboration. We conclude that while current state polling is a robust industry,
calls for greater collaboration remain unheeded largely because of limited resources
and the incompatible reward structures of project directors. Still, improved dataarchiving
together with regional polling projects on hot-button topics would serve
to diminish such challenges.
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