Quinnipiac University Poll

The Quinnipiac University Poll is a opinion poll research operated by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute at the Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. It surveys public opinion in Connecticut, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and nationally.^[2]

It is considerably larger than other academic polling centers, including the Franklin & Marshall College Poll, which only surveys Pennsylvania.^[1] The organization employs about 160 work-study students as interviewers, generally drawing from political science, communications, psychology, and sociology majors.^[1] The poll has a full time staff of eight.^[1] The University does not disclose the Institute's operating budget, and the poll does not accept clients or outside funding.^[1]

The Institute is undergoing construction of a new two story building that will double its available capacity to 160 calling cubicles.^[1] The capacity expansion will allow the Institute to poll multiple states at once, rectifying a problem that arose during the 2006 Connecticut Senate election where other polls were canceled to support that poll.^[1]

The polling operation began informally in 1988 in conjunction with a marketing class.^[3] It became serious in 1994 when the university hired a CBS News analyst to assess the data being gained.^[3] It subsequently focused on the Northeastern states, gradually expanding during presidential elections to cover swing states as well.^[3] The institute is funding by the university.^[3] The polls have been rated highly by Fivethirtyeight.com for accuracy in predicting primary and general elections.^[4] To many, Quinnipiac University is best known for its polls.^[5] The publicity generated by the poll has been credited with increasing enrollment at Quinnipiac.^[1]

The poll has been cited by major news outlets throughout North America and Europe, including The Washington Post,^[6] Fox News,^[7] USA Today,^[8] The New York Times,^[9] CNN,^[10] and Reuters.^[11] Quinnipiac's Polling Institute receives national recognition for its independent surveys of residents throughout the United States. It conducts public opinion polls on politics and public policy as a public service as well as for academic research.^[3] Several commentators, including Florida Governor Jeb Bush and a spokesman for Pennsylvania State Representative Sam Smith have publicly criticized the poll.^[1]

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