3 Reasons Polling Wins Your State Legislative Campaign

For those of us inside the political bubble, not a week goes by without a story about the woes of polling. I haven’t attended a major conference in the last couple of years that was without a panel on the state of polling in today’s environment.

The good news is that many of the risks that seem problematic are either myths or are easily mitigated by private pollsters. It’s helpful to understand that survey research has been around for a long long time. Emperors of Rome were known to survey citizens. Of course, the science has come a very long way since then. We’ve even been at a similar crossroads to the one we are at now with telephones and the Internet. In the US, sometime around the middle of the 20th century, advancements in our communications network caused a huge transition from door-to-door survey collection to telephones.

Even better news is that there are many reasons why polling is super helpful to state legislative campaigns specifically. There are outstanding strategists who have a lot of experience to rely on. While it’s great to have the counsel of such people, we feel that is no replacement for accurate, empirical results. We put a lot of stock in putting resources toward research when we plan a strategy for our client. And don’t use a budget as an excuse not to proceed with polling, because not every survey has to cost $35,000 or even $10,000.

Here are three ways polling wins your state legislative campaign, and two items to watch out for.

Sets the stage in a known way

Many of our clients use polling to inform their choice to run or not. Funding groups, like lobbyists, associations, and IEs, even use it to determine what candidates or races are worthwhile for their involvement. More importantly, proper polling can go into great detail to show standing among demographic groups or along the lines of ideology and issues.

Tests messaging and strategy

A highly favored component of polling is the ability to take assumptions and test them. You can test messages, strengths and weaknesses, issue stances and see the effect on base, swing and undecided voters. Would you go on a spending spree without knowing the effect it would have on your bank account? Polling is the bank statement that gives you the exact data you need to make great decisions.

Assesses the political environment

Another strength of polling is the ability to gauge how the race evolves after the bullets start flying downrange. It’s a handy tool to ensure that the tone of your campaign is palatable to the voters, and if not, have insights that help you make adjustments to strategy.

Don’t get hoodwinked

There is a problem that exists with people who don’t follow the science but claim to offer a “polling” product. A poorly designed and executed poll is highly dangerous and adverse to helping you in the ways I mentioned above. Take great care when choosing the right polling partner. Ask about the skill sets they have and the methodology they use. Ensure it is not IVR-only sample collection, and find out how they stratify collection and weight the sample when complete.

Don’t let myths stand in the way

Aside from the erroneous belief that polling is dying, there are other pieces of misinformation and wrong assumptions. Polling does not have to be expensive to be highly accurate nor is it out of the reach of state legislative budgets and scale. We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all band aid. There are many ways to structure a study that can make polling the perfect fit for almost any size race or campaign.

So as you embark on your run for or re-election to the state legislature, set aside a small portion of your budget for actionable polling. This investment will pay serious dividends moving forward by making the rest of your budget more targeted and effective. It can also be used as a fundraising tool among your supporters. Either way, you will not be walking blind in a race where you either win or lose – no in between.