Maine Public interviews Brewer about primary polling
Maine Public interviewed Mark Brewer, a professor of political science at the University of Maine, for a report on polling in primary elections. Primary polling has always been difficult and not an effective measure of the election outcome because of low voter turnout. But new ranked-choice voting laws complicate this even more, the report states. “Polling has gotten a lot harder over the last 20 to 30 years. Cell phones have caused a huge problem, unwillingness of people increasingly to give information to pollsters has caused a problem,” Brewer told Maine Public. Brewer also thinks it is difficult to collect a sample that accurately reflects a group’s demographic makeup and that it would be more effective to collect information from those who are likely to vote or have already voted absentee. Polling on people’s ranking of candidates over the phone would be difficult, especially since many probably would not have given much thought to candidates who were not their first or second choices, Brewer said.