 | |
| Abbreviation | MIPO |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1978 |
| Headquarters | Poughkeepsie, New York |
Key people | Lee Miringoff(Director of MIPO) Barbara Carvalho(Director of Marist Poll) |
| Affiliations | Marist University |
| Website | maristpoll.marist.edu |
TheMarist Poll, founded in 1978, is a nationalpublic opinion poll operated by theMarist Institute for Public Opinion (MIPO)[1] on the campus ofMarist University inPoughkeepsie, New York.[2] The poll was one of the first college-based public opinion polls in theUnited States.[1] MIPO regularly measures public opinion, both inNew York State and across the country.[3] In 2020, polls were conducted inArizona,Florida,New Hampshire, New York,North Carolina,South Carolina, andTexas.[4] The Marist Poll has an 'A' rating fromABC News'FiveThirtyEight and is often cited byjournalists andpundits around the world.[4][5]
MIPO was founded in 1978 by Dr. Lee Miringoff, former President of the National Council of Public Polls, as a poll onDutchess County elections for apolitical science class he was teaching on voting behavior.[6][7][8] MIPO was reportedly the first college-based survey center in the nation to involveundergraduates in the direct interaction and conducting of all its surveys.[9]
While most of the polls arepolitical in nature, MIPO does frequently conduct polls deemed to be in other areas of public interest. Other subjects commonly polled by MIPO includesports,economics,society andtechnology.[10][11]
Marist polls are typically conducted throughrandom digit dialing in a dual frame manner, contacting both cell phones and landlines, with cell phones comprising the majority of its national sample. Marist modifies the proportion of its frames for local polling, based on data from theNational Health Interview Survey. Marist has also used a blend of phone, text, and online surveying for some polls. Marist's frames are primarily obtained fromDynata. Marist usesstratified sampling based on geography. Respondents are contacted through a Voxcocomputer-assisted telephone interviewing system by live interviewers, typically recruited from the undergraduate student body. Callbacks of phone contacts may be attempted depending on the result of an attempted call. As of 2024, a typical poll will see around a 1% response rate. Polls are typically conducted across 3 to 5 days.[12][13][14]
Marist conducts weighting of survey results withUS Census data on the variables of age, gender, income, race, and region. Likely voters are identified through a turnout model that incorporates their expressed chance of voting, interest in the election, and past election participation.[12]
In 2012, the Marist Poll teamed withNBC News andTheWall Street Journal to conduct surveys in keypresidentialbattleground states.[15] Consequently, MIPO accurately predicted the results of the presidential contest andU.S. Senate andgovernor races in each of these states.[16] Other media institutions Marist has partnered with includeTelemundo,McClatchy,NPR,PBS Newshour, andYahoo News.[17]
During the summer of 2013, MIPO announced they have conducted a survey onPerformance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) inMajor League Baseball. Specifically, the poll asked whether or not players linked to clinics that provide PEDs, such asBiogenesis, should be suspended—even if they did not fail a drug test. The second question asked if players who used PEDs should receive eligibility for theHall of Fame.[18]
On the October 22, 2013 edition ofReal Sports thatHBO's longtime, sports-themed monthlynewsmagazine and the Marist Poll have launched a new, indefinite joint-polling initiative.[19] Towards the end of the program on October 22,hostBryant Gumbel announced the results of a HBOReal Sports/Marist Poll: a comprehensive national survey conducted by the Marist Poll in mid-July, 2013 with more than 1,200Americans over the age of 17 on the topic ofconcussions andbrain trauma infootball.[19]
In 2015, Marist temporarily suspended polling of the candidates for nomination during theDemocratic primaries andRepublican primaries out of concern that polls were being inappropriately used to decide who was included and excluded from the primaries.[20][21]
