The Science of Polling3 lesson(s)
News & Current Events · Intermediate
Elections & Polling News
By admin · A working journalist guide to opinion polls and election coverage: how surveys are designed, what margins of error really mean, how to read poll numbers responsibly, and how to report campaigns, debates, and election night without being fooled by the numbers.
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6Lessons
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About this course
Election coverage lives and dies by numbers, and the numbers are easier to get wrong than to get right. This classroom takes you inside the machinery of opinion polling: how polls are designed, why a sample of one thousand can represent millions, what the margin of error really promises, and why polls sometimes miss. It then turns to the reporting craft itself: covering campaigns and debates fairly, fact-checking in real time, calling races responsibly on election night, and keeping the audience oriented when the data is noisy. You finish with the judgment to read any poll the way an editor does, with questions first and numbers second.
Course outline
Reporting the Election3 lesson(s)