2024 Zandan Poll Methodology:

We interviewed 800 Austin-area residents from the entire Austin Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Interviewing was conducted in late 2023 and completed by January 4 2024. The survey was administered online and could be taken on a computer or on any mobile device and was offered in both English and Spanish.

The Zandan Poll used a premier online sample vendor Response:AI as the primary sample source. Response:AI complied with or exceeded, all applicable industry standards published by ESOMAR, the MRS, and CASRO.

Respondents were required to be at least 18 years of age to participate. They represented a broad spread across age, income, ethnicity, political interest, and area in which they live. Once the data collection was complete, the Zandan Poll undertook a careful comparison of all demographics to the 2015 American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau, 5-year average) data for the Austin MSA. The Zandan Poll was weighted to U.S. Census on the following demographic variables: gender, income, ethnicity, college-educated, and children in a household. A small number of interviews and questions were removed for concerns regarding reliability.

The final results are demographically representative and data collection is successfully closely aligned to the U.S. Census results.

Additional Research Notes: 

1. Sample Source: In choosing a sampling method, the goal of pollsters is to be as inclusive of the polled population as possible. Over time, researchers have grown concerned that telephone interviewing is no longer as representative as online interviewing, especially among certain demographic groups who do not maintain landlines, move often, or have opted into do-not-call lists. The Zandan Poll was conducted using an online survey instrument. The Austin Internet Project found that 94% of people in Austin have Internet access at home, compared to 78% of the nation as a whole (Nielsen), a figure that does not include those who have access to the Internet via smartphones (certain demographics, such as Hispanics, are more likely than the general population to have a smartphone – Pew Research). 47% of respondents took the 2015 Zandan Poll on a mobile device, up from 27% in 2015.

2. Representation: Dever, Rafferty and Vallient (2008) found that “statistical adjustments can reduce, if not eliminate, coverage bias in [Internet surveys]” by using sufficient demographic variables in the post-stratification weighting, including education and children in the household (both of these are included in Zandan Poll weighting). Between the large Internet penetration in the Austin area, the ability to weight to Census data on key variables, and scholarly research showing the validity of this approach, the concern of excluding potential non-internet respondents is substantially reduced. Additionally, studies have shown that respondents, when given the choice, widely prefer online surveys to phone-based surveys (Hogg, 2002).