Evaluating Online Nonprobability Surveys
Online nonprobability surveys are fast, cheap, and increasingly popular. We compared nine samples and found that accuracy varied substantially.
Methods
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Candidates who don’t win on first convention ballot usually go on to lose
In 11 of the 18 conventions since the Civil War that went more than one ballot, the first-ballot leader ended up losing the nomination to someone else.
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High-income Americans pay most income taxes, but enough to be ‘fair’?
By design, wealthier Americans pay most of the nation’s total individual income taxes.
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Americans divided on how much they trust their neighbors
Just half of Americans (52%) say they trust all or most of their neighbors, while a similar share (48%) say they trust some or none of their neighbors. Neighborly trust also varies between demographic groups.
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Cost-of-living disparities within states complicate minimum-wage debate
The cost of living can vary widely not just from state to state but within individual states, which can make setting an appropriate minimum wage more difficult.
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The biggest U.S. tax breaks
The hundreds of exemptions, deductions and other breaks embedded in the tax code will cost the federal government more than $1.3 trillion this fiscal year.
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This year’s GOP presidential battle isn’t the first – or even the deepest – party divide
Both major U.S. political parties have a long history of splits, splinters and other schisms.
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Many Americans say they voted, but did they?
One-in-six (16%) of those who say they “definitely voted” in the 2014 midterm election have no record of voting in commercially available national voter files.
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So far, turnout in this year’s primaries rivals 2008 record
So far this year, Republican primaries are experiencing record turnouts, much as voting in Democratic primaries surged in 2008. But the longer-term trend in primary turnout has been down.
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UN peacekeeping at new highs after post-Cold War surge and decline
The number of UN peacekeeping forces around the world has peaked in recent months after falling off in the late 1990s, following a period of trial and error for UN interventions.
