Company News · November 6, 2008

Edison Successfully Conducts The National Election Exit Poll

By Tom Webster

A148DD5F-3C10-46DC-8D01-53BF0DE1D605.jpgOn Tuesday, November 4th, Edison Media Research successfully conducted one of the largest single-day research projects in history, completing exit polls nationally, in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, for the Presidential Election. Edison also covered all 35 Senate races, numerous House seats and a number of propositions and iniatives on State ballots across the country.

The National Exit Poll for 2008 was one of the most logistically complex and challenging studies ever undertaken, with over 3,000 people conducting exit polls, reporting votes and analyzing the results of over 100,000 election day interviews. In addition, Edison conducted over 15,000 telephone interviews across the US to measure early and mail-in voting.

As a result of Edison’s effort, the members and subscribers to the National Election Pool data were able to project the outcome of races quickly and accurately, culminating in the announcement of the outcome of the Presidential Election at 11:00 PM Eastern. The resulting data set has been used by thousands of print, online and broadcast news outlets to provide a comprehensive portrait of the 2008 voters and the issues that mattered most to the country.

“This has truly been an historic election,” noted Joe Lenski, Edison’s Executive Vice President and director of exit polling efforts for the National Election Pool. “I am incredibly proud of the effort everyone at Edison put into these exit polls. Thanks to them, journalists and historians will have a lasting record of this unique race, and we truly look forward to seeing this data analyzed for many years to come.”

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