Company News · June 5, 2008

Edison Completes ‘Historic’ Primary Season With Record Number of Exit Polls

By Tom Webster

ballotbox.jpgWith recent successful exit polls in Montana and South Dakota, Edison Media Research concluded the busiest primary season in the history of exit poll research. In the five months between January 3rd and June 3rd, Edison staffers covered primaries and caucuses in 39 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, providing election analysis and data to ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, NBC and the Associated Press. Edison data was used to track the demographics, attitudes and opinions of voters in both Democratic and Republican contests, interviewing more than 80,000 respondents over 18 different election days. Throughout this uniquely complex effort, exit polling data was provided in real time without delays or disruptions for the members and subscribers to the National Election Pool. Despite the complexity and logistical challenges of conducting this number of interviews during the primary season, the Edison team projected winners with 100% accuracy.

“This has truly been an historic campaign season,” 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.”

Edison now gears up to replicate this effort, as the company prepares to conduct exit polling nationwide for the General Election on November 4th. The exit polling effort for the 2008 Presidential Election will be one of the largest single-day survey research projects ever conducted.

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