Brian Duff interviewed in Maine Sunday Telegram on the inaccuracy of polls leading up to November ballot

Brian Duff, Ph.D., associate professor of political science, was interviewed for a news story that appeared in the Maine Sunday Telegram Nov. 7, 2010 that analyzed why various polls conducted in Maine leading up to the November ballot were so far off the actual election results. Maine is one of the most difficult states to poll accurately because of its low barriers to voting, Duff told the Telegram. "It's harder to predict who is going to vote in Maine, simply because we're a pretty unique state when it comes to voting laws," he said. "The barriers to voting that affect states all over the country are just a little lower here in Maine." Duff added that political polling is far from an exact science with most polls consisting of calling a bunch of landlines, getting a response rate of about 15 percent and writing down what is said. "That is really cruddy social science - and we wouldn't get away with it in peer-reviewed journals," he said. "But it becomes a national obsession every two years."

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