Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Monmouth University Will Shutter Its Gold-Standard Polling Institute
Monmouth University Will Shutter Its Gold-Standard Polling Institute
Monmouth University in West Long Branch. (Photo: Monmouth University).
Monmouth University will shutter its gold-standard polling institute
Patrick Murray, institute’s director since 2005, will depart
By Joey Fox and David Wildstein, March 07 2025 3:22 pm
Monmouth University is planning to imminently shutter its lauded polling institute, sources with direct knowledge of the matter have told the New Jersey Globe, robbing New Jersey and the nation of one of its premier pollsters. … Patrick Murray, the polling institute’s director, declined to comment. A Monmouth University press contact did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Murray, a former pollster at the Rutgers University Eagleton Poll, left to join Monmouth University in 2005, and in the following 20 years built the university’s fledgling polling institute into one of the most well-respected pollsters in the nation. The institute, which conducted polls of both New Jersey races and national elections, was consistently rated as an A+ pollster by FiveThirtyEight and was treated as New Jersey’s “gold standard” poll.
But in recent years, sources told the Globe, administrators at Monmouth University had begun considering whether the polling institute was worth continuing to support. Some university leaders felt it was losing too much money while not attracting enough students, and any poll that Monmouth released that ultimately ended up being inaccurate – always a hazard of the polling trade – was seen as a possible stain on the university’s image.
Murray, too, had publicly reckoned with his institute’s place in New Jersey politics after the 2021 gubernatorial election, which his polling had shown would be a comfortable victory for Gov. Phil Murphy but which ended up being a nailbiter between Murphy and Republican Jack Ciattarelli. In a Star-Ledger op-ed, Murray questioned the continued utility of horserace polls, and his own methodology changed after that election; Monmouth polls in recent years have not featured direct head-to-head contests, instead asking respondents their thoughts on each candidate separately.
{snip}
Monmouth University in West Long Branch. (Photo: Monmouth University).
Monmouth University will shutter its gold-standard polling institute
Patrick Murray, institute’s director since 2005, will depart
By Joey Fox and David Wildstein, March 07 2025 3:22 pm
Monmouth University is planning to imminently shutter its lauded polling institute, sources with direct knowledge of the matter have told the New Jersey Globe, robbing New Jersey and the nation of one of its premier pollsters. … Patrick Murray, the polling institute’s director, declined to comment. A Monmouth University press contact did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Murray, a former pollster at the Rutgers University Eagleton Poll, left to join Monmouth University in 2005, and in the following 20 years built the university’s fledgling polling institute into one of the most well-respected pollsters in the nation. The institute, which conducted polls of both New Jersey races and national elections, was consistently rated as an A+ pollster by FiveThirtyEight and was treated as New Jersey’s “gold standard” poll.
But in recent years, sources told the Globe, administrators at Monmouth University had begun considering whether the polling institute was worth continuing to support. Some university leaders felt it was losing too much money while not attracting enough students, and any poll that Monmouth released that ultimately ended up being inaccurate – always a hazard of the polling trade – was seen as a possible stain on the university’s image.
Murray, too, had publicly reckoned with his institute’s place in New Jersey politics after the 2021 gubernatorial election, which his polling had shown would be a comfortable victory for Gov. Phil Murphy but which ended up being a nailbiter between Murphy and Republican Jack Ciattarelli. In a Star-Ledger op-ed, Murray questioned the continued utility of horserace polls, and his own methodology changed after that election; Monmouth polls in recent years have not featured direct head-to-head contests, instead asking respondents their thoughts on each candidate separately.
{snip}
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
