Reporting on Polling

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

What makes a good poll? How do you know when to trust one? Surveys are a mainstay of political journalism, a critical tool for calculating American public opinion. Polls are also important in understanding political motivation and messaging, particularly in campaigns. But polls are often overused, misused and misinterpreted. With a focus on the 2026 midterm elections, this course will give students the tools to follow best practices for reporting on polling, decipher what makes a good poll (and a bad one), understand the challenges the polling process has faced over time, and look for the pitfalls in real time. This course will be taught by Domenico Montanaro, NPR’s senior political editor/correspondent. Students will have the opportunity to see, first-hand, how NPR/PBS News/Marist polls are put together, participate in NPR results meetings to walk through the data, and will interpret the data for themselves to produce stories.