Public Policy Polling facts for kids
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| Private | |
| Industry | Opinion polling |
| Founded | 2001 Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Founder | Dean Debnam |
| Headquarters |
2912 Highwoods Boulevard, Suite 201
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Raleigh, North Carolina U.S.
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Area served
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United States |
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Key people
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Dean Debnam (President, CEO) Tom Jensen (Director) |
Public Policy Polling (PPP) is a company in the United States that asks people questions to find out what they think. This is called opinion polling. PPP often works with the Democratic Party.
Businessman Dean Debnam started the company in 2001. It is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Dean Debnam is the president and CEO of PPP. Tom Jensen is the director.
Besides asking about serious political topics, PPP sometimes asks about funny or unusual things.
Contents
How PPP Helps with Elections
Public Policy Polling is well-known for its work during elections. They try to guess who will win by asking many people questions.
2008 Elections
PPP became famous during the 2008 Democratic primary elections. These were important contests to choose who would run for president. PPP made good predictions in many states. Other polling companies sometimes got it wrong, but PPP was often right.
After the main election in November, the Wall Street Journal newspaper said PPP was one of the two most accurate companies. This was for their work in states where the presidential election was very close.
2010 Elections
PPP was the first company to predict that Scott Brown would win a special election in Massachusetts. He was running for a spot in the U.S. Senate. Brown won, and PPP's final guess was exactly right. This was a big surprise to many people.
2011 Elections
PPP was praised for being very good at predicting results in special elections. These are elections held at unusual times, and they are often hard to guess. PPP correctly predicted many important races. This included elections in West Virginia, New York, and California. They also got all eight recall elections right in Wisconsin.
2012 Elections
A study from Fordham University looked at 28 different polling companies. They found that PPP had the most accurate guess for the total number of votes for president across the country. PPP also worked with other groups like the Daily Kos and the SEIU to do polls.
In the final week of the 2012 election, PPP correctly predicted the winner in all 19 states they polled. They also guessed the winners of all the U.S. Senate and governor races they looked at.
2014 Elections
A research company called YouGov studied how accurate different polling firms were. They found that PPP's polls for governor races had the smallest average error. This means PPP was very close to the actual results in many states.
2016 Elections
In the 2016 Presidential Election, PPP's final polls were not as accurate in some key states. These included New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Their polls also guessed that President Trump would win by a smaller amount in Ohio. They also incorrectly predicted that Hillary Clinton would win Florida.
