Pollsters to unveil new poll program at DePauw

Howey

An intriguing national political environment featuring a compelling U.S. Senate primary, a Republican presidential contest coming to Indiana and how modern polling is rapidly evolving will be topics for national pollsters Christine Matthews and Fred Yang and Howey Politics Indiana Publisher Brian A. Howey at a DePauw University seminar on March 6.

Matthews, Yang and Howey will unveil the Howey/DePauw Indiana Battleground Poll program at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media, 601 S Locust St., Greencastle.

The free seminar is open to students, staff, news media and the general public.

Matthews, a Republican pollster who owns Bellwether Research in Washington, has polled for Gov. Mitch Daniels and the Indiana Republican Party.

Yang is a partner in Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group, a Democratic firm based in Washington that has polled for the Indiana Democratic Party, Gov. Frank O'Bannon and Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson.

The two pollsters join Howey Politics Indiana, the widely respected nonpartisan political website and newsletter, in creating the Howey/DePauw Indiana Battleground Poll.

The project will include two statewide surveys prior to the May 8 primary, surveying races for president, governor and U.S. Senate as well as the issues that will drive them.

Prior to the Nov. 6 general election, polls will be conducted in September and late October on the presidential, gubernatorial, U.S. Senate and statewide offices.

"During the historic 2008 election there were more than 30 independent media polls conducted in Indiana," Howey said. "Because of the financial status of many news media entities, we saw only a handful of independent media surveys during the 2010 cycle, and only one during the 2011 Indiana mayoral races."

Howey said that bringing respected Democratic and Republican pollsters such as Matthews and Yang will provide Howey Politics Indiana subscribers, HPI's media affiliates, and voters an accurate and transparent process in gauging the political races and the issues that drive them.

"Matthews and Yang have polled extensively in Indiana, know the state, and will provide bipartisan analysis of the candidates and issues that will shape the 2012 elections," Howey said.

At the March 6 event, Howey, Matthews and Yang will offer an overview of the Indiana and national political environments, and how those will likely develop between March and the May 8 primary.

Matthews and Yang will offer insights into changes coming to the polling industry. Those include transition from "land line" telephone polls to mobile phones, emergence of social media, and how those changes will come together in the 2012 Howey/DePauw Indiana Battleground polls.

"I'm looking forward to an insightful and interesting discussion with Brian Howey and Fred Yang of the issues and dynamics shaping the 2012 races in Indiana and nationally and what we'll be looking for in our first Battleground poll which will be out in just over a month," Matthews said.

The pollsters will also talk about how the Indiana news media can cover polls, ranging from the four Howey/DePauw Indiana Battleground Polls, political campaign generated polls and automated "robo polling."

Following the Nov. 6 general election, Matthews, Yang and Howey will return to DePauw for a seminar to compare final polling prior to the primary and general elections, and the actual election results.

They will offer analysis of what voters decided, how and why.