The annual Dubious Polling Awards ranks some of the most questionable and problematic polling efforts of 2012.
Newhouse and Public Opinion Strategies earned this coveted award because of their pre-election polling for Mitt Romney
Second place went to the Associated Press, which won the “Be Sure to Read the Fine Print” Award, for its article claiming that a majority of Americans harbor prejudice against blacks. It turns out, according to the fine print in the methodology statement, that the poll may really have shown only that a majority of Americans are conservative, not racist. The Top Ten “Dubious Polling” Awards are given each year by iMediaEthics polling director, David W. Moore, a veteran pollster and author, and former Managing Editor of the Gallup Poll. Check out the full report on iMediaEthics.org. Â And, take a look at previous award winners from the past five years of dubious polls.
iMediaEthics is published by Art Science Research Laboratory, a not-for-profit co-founded by its director, Rhonda Roland Shearer, an adjunct lecturer at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Iowa
David W. Moore is a Senior Fellow with the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire