Introducing a New Project to Track Polls
The data that powers this project is linked at the bottom of our poll tracker.
To make the transition easier for researchers, we are providing the data in approximately the same format as 538 did. These are the known differences:
• The columns poll_id, pollster_id, sponsor_ids, sponsor_candidate_id and question_id refer to the internal identifier The Times uses, rather than the 538 ID. For a map of 538 IDs to the new IDs, please email [email protected].
• Display values, such as those for candidates, pollsters and sponsors, may not exactly match the values provided by 538.
• The methodology column may contain different values than those the 538 data set included.
• The state column will use two-character abbreviations, and it will be filled with US to denote a national poll. In the 538 data set, the column was empty for a national poll and used unabbreviated state names.
• The values previously provided in the numeric_grade, pollscore and transparency_score columns have no equivalent in The Times’s data set and are empty.
• The url_article, url_topline, url_crosstab, internal, politician_id columns are not currently operative and are empty, but may be populated in the future.
• The created_at field for entries before March 12, 2025, has been set to the approximate release date of the poll.
If you find a bug or a difference that isn’t noted here, please email [email protected].
At launch, the polling tracker was produced by Annie Daniel, Jon Huang, Ruth Igielnik, Jasmine C. Lee, Alex Lemonides, Jonah Smith, Albert Sun, Rumsey Taylor. Additional work by Andrew Chavez, Dan Simmons-Ritchie and Isaac White
