American Research Group

Pollster Mark Blumenthal reported that "It is important to note that what ARG does ... is very different from the way other pollsters ask about party ID. ARG asks about party registration in some states, party identification in others and then combines the two results into a single variable. Whatever the merits of this approach, the results will not be comparable to those of other polling organizations."{{cite web| url=http://www.mysterypollster.com/main/2005/03/disclosing_part_4.html| title=Disclosing Party ID: American Research Group| work=Mystery Pollster| last=Blumenthal| first=Mark| date=2005| access-date=April 13, 2017}}

In 2004, Gallup interviewed ARG about a poor prediction (22 points adrift) in the Maryland Democratic primary and found their "likely voter" model was "based on just the one question, [which] is a relatively simple approach to classifying voters."{{cite web| url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/10918/preelection-polls-super-tuesday-mostly-accurate.aspx| last=Moore| first=David W.| title=Pre-Election Polls for Super Tuesday Mostly "Accurate"| work=Gallup| date=March 9, 2004| access-date=April 13, 2017}}

ARG was criticised in 2007 for only using landline respondents, which they justified by arguing that cellular phone users, who are mostly younger people, mostly "don't vote".{{cite news| url=http://m.motherjones.com/mojo/2007/12/hillary-romney-iowa-we-think| title=Hillary, Romney Up in Iowa, We Think| first=Elizabeth| last=Gettelman| date=December 26, 2007 |work=Mother Jones| access-date=April 13, 2017}}

As of November 2019, ARG received a B rating from FiveThirtyEight.{{cite web| url=https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/pollster-ratings/| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141005201227/http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/pollster-ratings/| url-status=dead| archive-date=October 5, 2014| title=FiveThirtyEight's Pollster Ratings| date=November 5, 2019| access-date=November 23, 2019}} FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver has long critiqued ARG. In 2008, he wrote in Daily Kos about their poor track record and later challenged Bennett to a polling contest that the latter did not take up.{{cite book| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RN0_DgAAQBAJ&pg=PT105| title=Best American Political Writing 2009| chapter=6. The Spreadsheet Psychic| last=Sternbergh| first=Adam| date=October 12, 2008| isbn=9780786746354}}{{cite web| url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/challenge-to-dick-bennett-of-american/| title=Challenge to Dick Bennett of American Research Group| date=May 9, 2008| work=FiveThirtyEight| last=Silver| first=Nate| access-date=April 13, 2017}} ARG was noted by Silver as performing particularly poorly in the 2012 US presidential election: "Polls by American Research Group ... largely missed the mark ... American Research Group has long been unreliable."{{cite web| url=https://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/10/which-polls-fared-best-and-worst-in-the-2012-presidential-race/| title=Will Polls Fared Best (and Worst) in the 2012 Presidential Race| first=Nate| last=Silver| work=Fivethirtyeight blog| publisher=New York Times| date=November 12, 2012| access-date=April 13, 2017}} In 2016, Washington Monthly noted of ARG, based on FiveThirtyEight's analysis, that they have a slight Republican bias but more importantly, "They do not appear to be good at their jobs."{{cite news| url=http://washingtonmonthly.com/2016/06/30/why-republican-kneecapping-of-trump-wont-work/| title=Why Republican Kneecapping of Trump Won't Work| last=Longman| first=Martin| work=Washington Monthly| date=June 30, 2016| access-date=April 13, 2017}}

In the 2008 US presidential primaries, ARG were "dead last among the nine organizations that polled in 10 or more contests" for accuracy.{{cite web| url=http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/724144| title=Re: ARG's South Dakota Poll| work= Huffington Post| last=Blumenthal| first=Mark| date=June 4, 2008| access-date=April 13, 2017}}

The Washington Post noted that in 2000 ARG's "tracking poll ended up buried deepest in the snowbank: They had Bush winning by two points the day before the primary -- merely 20 off the mark."{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2004/01/26/a-snowy-graveyard-for-pols-and-polls/dc11c7b4-2912-4524-aab8-f7df9969198d/| title=A Snowy Graveyard for Pols and Polls| first1= Richard| last1= Morin| first2=Claudia| last2=Deane| date=January 26, 2004| work=The Washington Post| access-date=April 13, 2017}} Salon found in 2004 that ARG did not reveal the funding sources of their polls.{{cite news| url=http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/07/polls/index_np.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050207114750/http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/07/polls/index_np.html| url-status=dead| title=Court of public opinion| work=Salon| date=August 7, 2004| archive-date=February 7, 2005| last=Stromberg| first=Stephen W.| access-date=April 13, 2017}} Mother Jones observed in 2007 that ARG "may not be the bellwether for accurate polling." The New Republic found in 2008 that "ARG is a black sheep of the polling world; I repeatedly heard it singled out for scorn by other pollsters."{{cite news| title=Survey says ...| url=https://newrepublic.com/article/64522/survey-says| work=New Republic| date=November 5, 2008| first=Michael| last=Crowley| access-date=April 13, 2017}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.americanresearchgroup.com Official website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170414083755/http://polltracker.talkingpointsmemo.com/pollsters/american-research-group Poll tracker] by Talking Points Memo
• [https://www.c-span.org/person/?dickbennett Videos of Bennett] on C-SPAN

Category:Public opinion research companies in the United States

Category:American companies established in 1985

Category:Companies based in Manchester, New Hampshire

Category:Research groups