{"id":347379,"date":"2026-07-29T10:30:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T14:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?p=347379"},"modified":"2026-08-01T10:05:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:05:59","slug":"video-how-precise-are-polls-really","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/methods\/2026\/07\/29\/video-how-precise-are-polls-really\/","title":{"rendered":"Video: How precise are polls really?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How precise are polls &#8230; really? Here&#8217;s a little secret: Even the best pollsters need some wiggle room when sharing results. This \u201cwiggle room\u201d (also known as the margin of error) is the range within the true answer\u00a0likely falls. To learn more about polling basics, watch our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLZ9z-Af5ISavJpPlvdMU4T-etIDOUmldk\">Methods 101 video series<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How precise are polls...really?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9Tz0RhqISSA?feature=oembed&#038;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How precise are polls &#8230; really? Here&#8217;s a little secret: Even the best pollsters need some wiggle room when sharing results. This \u201cwiggle room\u201d (also known as the margin of error) is the range within the true answer\u00a0likely falls.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":377,"featured_media":347384,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"layout-full-width","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[377,340],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[3082],"tags":[],"bylines":[631,888],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[470],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[],"research-teams":[528],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-347379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","bylines-courtney-kennedy","bylines-sara-atske","formats-video","research-teams-methods"],"label":false,"post_parent":0,"word_count":51,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/methods\/2026\/07\/29\/video-how-precise-are-polls-really\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":347384,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/07\/PEW_M101_Thumb_EP5_Wide_B-1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/07\/PEW_M101_Thumb_EP5_Wide_B-1.png?w=564&h=317&crop=1","width":564,"height":317,"chartArt":false,"caption":""},"A2":{"id":347384,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/07\/PEW_M101_Thumb_EP5_Wide_B-1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/07\/PEW_M101_Thumb_EP5_Wide_B-1.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false,"caption":""},"A3":{"id":347384,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/07\/PEW_M101_Thumb_EP5_Wide_B-1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/07\/PEW_M101_Thumb_EP5_Wide_B-1.png?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false,"caption":""},"A4":{"id":347384,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/07\/PEW_M101_Thumb_EP5_Wide_B-1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/07\/PEW_M101_Thumb_EP5_Wide_B-1.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false,"caption":""},"XL":{"id":347384,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/07\/PEW_M101_Thumb_EP5_Wide_B-1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/07\/PEW_M101_Thumb_EP5_Wide_B-1.png?w=720&h=405&crop=1","width":720,"height":405,"chartArt":false,"caption":""},"social":{"id":347384,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/07\/PEW_M101_Thumb_EP5_Wide_B-1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/07\/PEW_M101_Thumb_EP5_Wide_B-1.png?w=1200&h=628&crop=1","width":1200,"height":628,"chartArt":false,"caption":""}},"_embeds":[],"watchers":[{"id":377,"name":"Sara Atske","email":"satske@pewresearch.org","slack_user_id":"","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/499a853e28aa044e16889d91f455efbc21a0cbd9d5fa5e81ffe0a551062bd540?s=48&d=mm&r=g"},{"id":340,"name":"David Kent","email":"dkent@pewresearch.org","slack_user_id":"","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfcda46455d88d2d25f0dcfb0e20bb5393a19a3d7f016a48d0acb1940624471d?s=48&d=mm&r=g"}],"table_of_contents":[],"report_materials":[{"type":"printEngineBeta","label":"Print Engine (Beta)","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/methods\/2026\/07\/29\/video-how-precise-are-polls-really\/print"}],"report_pagination":{"current_post":null,"next_post":null,"previous_post":null,"pagination_items":[]},"parent_info":{"parent_title":"Video: How precise are polls really?","parent_id":347379},"materialsOrdered":[],"chaptersOrdered":[],"partsOrdered":[],"partsEnabled":false,"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Video: How precise are polls really?","description":"How precise are polls ... really? 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