Such a unique viewpoint of both politics as a whole, in general, and how the pros break down and analyze the sociological aspects of voting. From polling call centers to exit polling to the analysis of current trends, historical patterns, and of human nature, Salvatano takes readers deep into the world of the professional pollster. I thought I understood politics before, but after reading this I have a whole new perspective of elections, of how we as a culture behave politically, and of all the science that goes into the study and the media coverage of each political election. Fascinating!

WHERE DID YOU GET THIS NUMBER? by Anthony Salvanto is subtitled "A Pollster's Guide to Making Sense of the World." I was very excited to see this title because I do think that many people do not really understand how to construct a meaningful poll or how data can be misrepresented and manipulated. Salvanto is CBS News Director of Elections and Surveys and he gives numerous examples in this book, most of which are, of course, related to politics. The book itself, however, is a little dry overall. I saw the pre-publication version which meant there were tons of fascinating statistics, but no helpful charts and graphs. For example, he could have more visually contrasted the 2016 poll results from randomized sampling with those of the ultimately more explanatory tracking polls. In another case, he writes about the declining response rate, but could have included some infographics to better illustrate that change over time. And he could have expanded more fully on polling by think tanks, by unions, and by other organizations (although he does refer to both Gallup and Pew, he barely mentions the more recently founded FiveThirtyEight). In his conclusion, Salvanto tries to end in an upbeat manner: "So there's also great opportunity here. There's never been more information out there about everyone." He advocates using it to start a conversation and bring the country together, and further notes that is something about which most (55%) of Americans were optimistic last year.

I requested this book as an ARC from NetGalley, as I was interested in finding out what, in my opinion, went so horribly awry in the 2016 Presidential Election. I mean, how could the “pollsters” have gotten it so wrong?
The author does explain the polling methods and techniques used in predicting elections. I found it interesting, but a bit dry.

On November 8th 2016 I went to bed at a regular time trying not to think about the election or more like refusing to believe the possibilities…and woke up to a brave horrifying new world that had such people in it. Meanwhile Anthony Salvanto, CBS News’ Elections and Surveys Director, stayed up and witnessed that nightmare personally, totaling the numbers well into the night and finally calling the election. And now he’s written a book about how that came to be, a book about polling, surveys and statistics. Ok, that doesn’t sound too exciting, few would go wild for quantitative social sciences, but anyone with interest in politics in the increasingly divided aggressively bipartisan America should really check this book out. It doesn’t just tell you numbers, it (like a good pollster) explains the reasons behind the numbers. I, for one, founded it fascinating and grimly educational. Politics is a relatively new interest of mine, but social psychology has been one for a while and this book catered to both. And as difficult as reliving the last election was, gaining a new understanding of the numbers and theories based whys behind it was well worth it. Also the book reads notably well, almost astonishingly so for a nonfiction about statistics. I mean, I was ready was educational, but tiresome slog and got only the former. The book is surprisingly lively for its genre and subject and reads very well and quickly. Politics are difficult enough to discuss that good manners recommend not even bringing it up in polite company and yet the Anthony Salvanto somehow managed to write a perfectly unbiased political themed book. How…polite. The author to his credit tried to end it on a cheery note and the man has certainly seen enough plot turns as it were to have an objective perspective, but realistically the state of things (from news to actual poll results) doesn’t inspire much confidence. Apathy and ignorance are a dangerous combination any way you take it, everyone knows what comes of the proverbial good men doing nothing and yet voting turn outs are appalling and political intelligence of many leaves a lot to be desired. At least there are polls to explain these depressing trends and there is a certain comfort that comes from understanding. The book’s very good, everyone can learn something from it. Or not, after all there are no IQ requirements to vote as has been made blatantly obvious time and again. Thanks Netgalley.