SurveyUSA
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Public opinion research, Market research |
| Headquarters | New Jersey , United States |
| Products | Opinion surveys, Market research |
| Owner | Hypotenuse, Inc. |
| Website | www |
SurveyUSA is a polling organization based in the United States that specializes in conducting opinion surveys related to political offices and issues, alongside market research for corporations and advocacy groups. The company collaborates with more than 50 television stations under contract, which utilize its market analysis to enhance newscast programming and boost viewer ratings.
Unlike many competitors, SurveyUSA utilizes an automated telephone system instead of relying on live call center personnel. Participants listen to prerecorded questions voiced by a professional announcer—frequently a local news broadcaster—and provide responses through touch-tone phone inputs or recorded messages. Furthermore, SurveyUSA employs more straightforward wording in its polling questions, particularly regarding ballot measures, which can produce results that differ from other pollsters.
The firm is owned by Hypotenuse, Inc., a privately held enterprise headquartered in New Jersey.
By March 2023, the polling evaluation website FiveThirtyEight, managed by statistician Nate Silver, had incorporated 856 SurveyUSA polls into its records and assigned SurveyUSA an "A+" grade for both accuracy and methodology, highlighting an 89% rate of correctly predicting election outcomes.
Methodology
Initially dependent on random sampling, SurveyUSA broadened its approach during the 2010s to include nonprobability sampling techniques. It employs a combination of telephone and internet surveys customized for each assignment, utilizing both live interviewers and automated systems with quasirandom respondent selection. Telephone samples are obtained from data analytics firm Aristotle, Inc., while non-telephone samples come from Aristotle and Federated Sample sources. Surveys encompass both landline and mobile phone users, with the sequence of questions and answers occasionally rotated to minimize bias.
SurveyUSA applies limited weighting adjustments to its poll data, calibrating for demographic factors such as gender, age, and race by referencing voter registration files or US Census Bureau statistics depending on the sample composition.