Editor,
In a recent letter to The Reflector, Thomas Higdon of Vancouver wrote, "According to a recent poll, the Third Congressional District race is a dead heat. But the 'poll’ was released by the Northwest Progressive Institute. Here’s the question: Do you trust progressive
polls?"
I write on behalf of the Northwest Progressive Institute to say that it might interest Mr. Higdon to know that the Washington state Republican Party trusts our polling so much that they cited it in a mailing for Joe Kent that they sent this past summer to thousands of voters in Southwest Washington. You can see a copy of the mailer for yourself at https://npi.li/44j. NPI is a leader in public opinion research in the Pacific Northwest. Since we began commissioning polls over a decade ago, our electoral findings have consistently been corroborated by official election results. That's because we follow the scientific method, asking neutral questions of representative samples, and we only work with pollsters who are committed to the same.
Subjective organizations on both sides of the political divide are wholly capable of carrying out objective research, and in fact, it's a necessity if you want to faithfully measure and understand public opinion. At NPI, we like to say that you can't find out what people think if you tell them what to think first.
Respected Republicans like Rep. J.T. Wilcox know that we have a track record of excellence and have said so publicly. We appreciate that they appraise our work based on the results, rather than questioning the credibility of the research because it's coming from an organization with different values, principles and policy directions than those they hold.
We invite Mr. Higdon to do the same. Don't question a poll merely because its sponsor has an acknowledged ideology. Rather, question whether the poll was conducted according to the scientific method or not. Find out what questions were asked and who's in the sample, not just how the poll was conducted. If a sponsor won't release that information, it's a red flag. We are sticklers for doing research the right way and not cutting corners, and we're happy to talk about best practices for public opinion research with anyone, whether they identify as Democratic, Republican, independent or something else. Please feel free to reach out to us. Thanks for voting and caring about our democracy's future!
Andrew Villeneuve
Redmond
