Poll Hub

In this episode of Poll Hub, Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion and Dr. Barbara L. Carvalho, Director of The Marist College Poll, discuss with political journalist and tech entrepreneur Jay DeDapper, the poll’s decision to go into the three Rust Belt States that helped put President Donald Trump over the top in the 2016 election. According to the latest NBC News/Marist Polls of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, President Trump is having difficulty in the states that made the difference for him last November. In each of these battleground states, the president’s job approval ratings stand in the 30’s.

Though it may seem inherently contradictory, the generic ballot question can provide very specific information about the electorate and its mood. But, as the Poll Hub team discusses, analysis of the generic ballot question cannot occur in a vacuum. It must be discussed in light of the president’s job approval rating. On this episode of Poll Hub, Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, Dr. Barbara L. Carvalho, Director of The Marist College Poll, and political journalist and tech entrepreneur Jay DeDapper, expound upon recent historical precedent which indicates that the lower the president’s job approval rating is, the worse the president’s political party performs in the midterm elections. As such, the generic ballot question acts as a measurement of the brands of the Democratic and Republican parties.

In this episode of Poll Hub, together with political journalist and tech entrepreneur Jay DeDapper, Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, and Dr. Barbara L. Carvalho, Director of The Marist College Poll, explain how public opinion polls have evolved over the last 80 years. Front and center in the discussion is the need for pollsters to adjust as technology changes and the challenge of conducting quality surveys in light of the increased costs associated with those technological advances.  

The experts at Poll Hub also pull back the curtain on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and explain why it has created unique challenges for the polling community.

Then, the Poll Hub team tackles one for football fans.  Are people watching less football because of Colin Kaepernick’s protests last season? Why poll consumers need to dig deep into the data and look beyond the headline.

Since the 1970’s, there has been a sharp shift in the level of confidence Americans have in the institutions of the United States. What has changed, and why? In this episode of Poll Hub, Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, Dr. Barbara L. Carvalho, Director of The Marist College Poll, and political journalist and tech entrepreneur, Jay DeDapper look closely at the recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll to highlight the institutions in which Americans have the most and least faith, compare it to historical trend data to uncover what accounts for the change in public opinion, and discuss what is needed to restore Americans’ confidence.

Job approval ratings are a daily part of the political discussion, but why do they receive so much attention? Do they really matter? In this episode of Poll Hub, Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, Dr. Barbara L. Carvalho, Director of The Marist College Poll, and political journalist and tech entrepreneur Jay DeDapper discuss the historical context of job approval ratings and explain their relevance in modern day politics.