Vacation
August 22, 2006
And finally . . . As readers may have guessed from the lack of posts the last few days, I am trying to take a much needed vacation break this week. I interrupted it today to do finish up a...[More...]
MP is Hiring
August 2, 2006
I am hiring to fill an immediate opening for a full-time, entry-level analyst/researcher/assistant to work with me in Washington exclusively on MP. Applicants need to have good writing and proofreading skills, strong attention to detail and, ideally, a junkie's obsession...[More...]
A Million Visits
July 17, 2006
Without any fanfare about a week ago, this site quietly surpassed the mark of one million unique visits since October 2004. While the most popular sites typically get that level of traffic in a week or less, the one million...[More...]
AAPOR
May 17, 2006
As noted in an earlier post, I am in Montreal, Canada tonight on the eve of the annual conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). In that context I want to pass along some personal news: In...[More...]
Trackback SPAM
May 4, 2006
Unfortunately, a "housekeeping" item chewed up my blogging time today. I discovered this morning that MysteryPollster has been receiving several hundred pieces of "trackback" spam every day for since mid-March. Now, I have quite a mess to clean up. A...[More...]
Peace on Earth
December 25, 2005
I will be taking some time off this week to rest, recharge and spend some time with my family. I'll be back in the New Year. So from my family to yours, whether you are celebrating Christmas, Hanukka, Kwansa, the...[More...]
MP in POQ
December 23, 2005
Finally (for today) I have a surprise and something of a holiday gift from the editors of Public Opinion Quarterly. As a personal venture, this blog has paid some truly gratifying and utterly unexpected dividends. Topping the list during 2005...[More...]
Typepad Outage
December 16, 2005
A quick update for those wondering why all of my posts from this week seemed to disappear overnight: Typepad, the service that hosts this humble blog, experienced a major service outage overnight that prevented me from posting and readers from...[More...]
Happy New Year
October 3, 2005
MP apologizes for the slack posting over the last week or so, especially since the arrival of the year 5766* promises to put us out of commission, blogwise, for at least another 24 hours. In the meantime, true polling junkies...[More...]
A Little Less Mystery
September 19, 2005
For New York City readers who just can't get enough Mystery Pollster . . . This Wednesday evening, September 21, MP will participate in a discussion of "Blogging and Polling" sponsored by the New York chapter of the American Association...[More...]
The Mystery Vacation
August 12, 2005
Tomorrow, MP heads off on his annual family vacation. This will be MP's first real vacation since starting this humble blog almost a year ago, and oh my, do we need it! Thanks to all who continue to check in...[More...]
Blog Vacation
May 2, 2005
A quick note: I will be taking a brief “blog vacation” for the rest of this week. I’ll be back next week when our coverage will include “on scene” coverage of the upcoming conference of the American Association for Public...[More...]
Update
February 8, 2005
Just a quick update: I am over the flu-bug, but it's left me behind the 8-ball a bit. My apologies for the infrequent posts of late. Thanks to all who sent kinds wishes in comments or via email. For daily...[More...]
Flu
February 2, 2005
Just wanted to explain the lack of posts. Apparently, my two year old has been hanging out with Hilary Clinton or her staff, because she brought home the flu that has been making the rounds in DC. It disabled the...[More...]
Koufax Award
January 8, 2005
An alert and loyal reader (thanks DC) tipped me off to a very gratifying honor for this not quite four-month-old blog: Mystery Pollster has been nominated for a Koufax Award as the "Best Expert Blogger" of 2004. From the blogger...[More...]
Happy New Year
December 27, 2004
Just a reminder, in case you missed my holiday post, that I am taking a break this week. Blogging will resume in the New Year. In the meantime, here’s an off-topic suggestion: Daniel Drezner has links to agencies that are...[More...]
Season's Greetings!
December 25, 2004
First, I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be taking a much-needed break from blogging for the next week. I’ll be back on January 3. Second, I have two more posts on exit polls that I could...[More...]
Reader Survey Reminder
November 3, 2004
It is hard for me to believe that I posted my first message on this blog barely six week ago. Yesterday, this site had over 120,000 visitors and had been averaging 10,000 to 20,000 for the previous week. I thank...[More...]
The MP Reader Survey
October 31, 2004
As I mentioned in the last post, I created a short online survey about this site that you can fill out by clicking this link. If you have read this blog, I would appreciate it if you would take 3-5...[More...]
And Now for Something Completely Different...
October 31, 2004
You may have wondered why I disappeared for the last 24 hours or so. Well, another bit of personal business intruded. So, without further ado... The Mystery Pollster, his wife Helen and daughter Deena are pleased to announce the birth...[More...]
Housekeeping
October 28, 2004
First, a blanket apology to all of you who have emailed over the last week or so. You have sent a ton of great questions. I wish I had time to answer them all, but with the election rapidly approaching,...[More...]
Where I'm headed
October 13, 2004
I made a list tonight of the topics I would like to cover over the next three weeks. A series on how pollsters define and identify likely voters Wireless phones Response rates The challenge of new registrants Nightly tracking polls...[More...]
Extended Posts: Follow-up
October 11, 2004
Thanks to those of you who sent feedback on extended posts. The preference was pretty overwhelming to avoid extended posts altogether (49%) or to break posts as rarely as possible only when they exceed 800-1000 words (26%). Fewer preferred a...[More...]
Thank you
October 11, 2004
Just a quick thank you to all who sent kind messages of support regarding my daughter's bout with pneumonia. She's doing just fine. She came home from the hospital Wednesday night and has recovered so rapidly that if you saw...[More...]
Housekeeping: Extended Posts?
October 7, 2004
As most of you have probably noticed, I have started using the "extended post" feature in the blogging software to continue longer posts on a jump page. One commenter complained: "It's a pain to have to scan down the page...[More...]
A Personal Note
October 5, 2004
I hesitate to discuss personal matters here, but I want to explain the lack of posts today: Unfortunately, my nearly two-year old daughter, who had been running a fever all weekend, had to be admitted to a hospital early this...[More...]
New Format & URL
October 4, 2004
First, if you have visited the site before, you will notice some obvious changes, hopefully for the better. With a life saving consulting assist from Nick Aster, who helps produce Wonkette and other blogs for the Gawker empire, I’ve narrowed...[More...]
About Mystery Pollster
September 26, 2004
Contact Email Address: questions@pollster.com Website: http://www.pollster.com Phone: 202-393-3195 Biography I have been in the political polling business for more than 18 years, conducting and analyzing political polls and focus groups for Democratic candidates and market research surveys for major corporations....[More...]
No Mystery
September 24, 2004
First of all, I need to clear up one bit of unintended mystery. As of today, my real name appears on the right sidebar as "editor” and in the author line at the end of each post. I never intended...[More...]
In medias res
September 23, 2004
Thank you, Mr. Kaus (and, for that matter, Mr. Reynolds as well). Now that I have your attention, you may be wondering, who am I, and what is this blog about? Starting a political polling blog right now is a...[More...]
