Straw Ballots


PPC sends canvassers door-to-door in "typical" neighborhoods around the state, asking people if they will fill out a "straw ballot", which consists of more or less everything on a real ballot. Our system sometimes varies as we are continuously refining and improving our methods, but we generally offer a $1 coin as an incentive, mainly to increase the percentage that are filled out and returned.

We leave the ballot and a stamped envelope. Our return rates exceed 50%.

This method yields increasingly accurate results, similar to those achieved in an actual election, because:

  • The people we approach are chosen in advance to be likely voters
  • Voting is anonymous
  • The voter is given a ballot which has exactly the language that's printed on the official ballot
  • There is no interviewer present to help guide them to a decision
  • The proposals appear after two pages of other races - in other words, the decision is made in context, without attention being drawn to it.

Cost: Ask your PPC sales representative for details on pricing.

Did You Know?

Traditional polling just doesn’t work when it comes to ballot proposals. Our method of straw ballot polling has proven to be the only accurate method of polling a ballot proposal.