How to take part in political polls

If you’ve ever wondered why no pollster has asked you anything, you’re in good company. Pew Research Center puts the chance of being picked for a typical one of its surveys at “only about 1 in 26,000” (Pew Research Center). And you can’t raise your odds by volunteering. “While we appreciate people who want to participate, we can’t base our polls on volunteers,” Pew explains.

That’s by design. A poll is meant to stand in for everyone, so pollsters pick people at random: if anyone could sign up, the people keenest on politics would crowd out everyone else. Still, there are three ways in: answer when you’re picked, join a panel by invitation, or sign up for a panel that takes volunteers.

At a glance

As each organization describes itself on its own website, October 2026.

When a pollster calls or texts

Many of the best-known polls still reach people by phone. The Quinnipiac University Poll uses “random digit dialing using live interviewers, calling both landlines and cell phones” (Quinnipiac). The Siena Research Institute dials random numbers too, sometimes calls from a state voter file and asks for a person by name, and also reaches people by text and online (Siena). Both say the same thing: people “cannot volunteer to do our survey,” but “everyone has an equal chance to be selected.”

So the most direct way to take part is to answer when one of them gets in touch. Quinnipiac notes that its name and number show up on many caller ID displays, and that its interviewers leave a message saying who they are and that they will call back (FAQ). The Do Not Call Registry doesn’t stop these calls: surveys and political calls are allowed, but they “can’t also include a sales pitch” (Federal Trade Commission).

Panels you join by invitation

Much of today’s polling runs on panels: groups of people who agree to answer surveys again and again. The most closely watched ones recruit at random, usually by mailing invitations to addresses drawn from the Postal Service’s list of every home, so their members stand in for the whole country. You can’t apply, but if a letter arrives, it’s worth opening.

• Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel has “roughly 10,000 adults” and “typically” sends “one or two surveys each month.” Members are paid a small amount for each survey: $5 to $20 in a recent wave, by check or gift code (Pew, wave methodology). “Only those selected can join – you can’t volunteer.”
• Ipsos KnowledgePanel has 60,000 members (Ipsos). Members take short surveys “about one per week” and get 1,000 points, worth $1, for each one. Households without internet access get a computer and free internet while they’re members (FAQ).
• NORC’s AmeriSpeak, run by the research organization at the University of Chicago, has recruited more than 85,000 members (NORC). Members are invited “about 2 to 4 times per month” and earn up to $5, “or sometimes more,” per survey in points (FAQ).
• The Gallup Panel has “approximately 100,000 members” recruited by random phone numbers or addresses, and “is not an opt-in panel” (Gallup). Members earn points, with 100 points worth a dollar toward a gift card or a charity donation (FAQ).
• The SSRS Opinion Panel has “over 50,000 active panelists,” and “no one can volunteer or sign up” (SSRS). Members get a gift card after each online survey, or a check after a phone one, and generally no more than two or three invitations a month (SSRS). SSRS also runs Pew’s panel.

Panels you can sign up for

Opt-in panels let anyone eligible register. Because their members chose to join, the pollsters behind them weight the answers to match the population, and they usually choose which members get each survey.

• YouGov: “anyone who is an adult is eligible to sign up,” but “we choose which panelists we invite to take each survey” (YouGov). Each survey earns points that members redeem for gift cards or cash (YouGov). On most weekdays YouGov also posts Daily Questions that anyone can answer, with live results right away. Those live numbers aren’t weighted; the results YouGov publishes the next weekday are, and they only count people invited through a regular survey.
• Civiqs is open to US residents aged 13 and over (Civiqs). It emails members “about once every few weeks” when a new poll is ready, and “most surveys take less than a minute” (Civiqs). Its official pages mention no payment. Some results are public on its daily dashboard; others are for subscribers (FAQ).
• Ipsos iSay takes US residents aged 18 and over (terms). Members earn points, with a $5 gift card at 500 points (rewards). It describes itself as a community for sharing opinions on products and services.

Some pollsters don’t keep a panel you can join at all. Morning Consult reaches people through “a diverse global network of trusted survey panel providers” (Morning Consult). Change Research recruits “fresh participants online for each and every poll,” through digital ads, text messages and “selective panels” (Change Research), so an ad or a text may be your invitation.

We the Panel

We publish this guide, so weigh this part accordingly. We the Panel is an opt-in panel that anyone aged 18 or over who lives in the United States can join, for free. It starts with a five-minute quiz that shows which of nine political types you are. If you then join, you get one short question a week about the news, and right after you answer you see how the panel answered.

Members aren’t paid and don’t collect points. Like other opt-in panels, we weight results to match the country, and every result we publish says what was asked, how many people answered and how it was weighted. Because we ask the same people over time, we can see when views shift and ask why. Our method explains how it works and where its limits are.

How to spot a fake survey

Real pollsters don’t charge you, and they don’t need your bank details. A few lines worth remembering:

• “No legitimate surveys ask for your credit card or bank account number to pay for a ‘free’ reward” (Federal Trade Commission).
• “Never pay anyone to get paid, or to get a job. That’s a sure sign of a scam” (Federal Trade Commission).
• “We will never ask for money or try to sell you something” (Pew Research Center).

If you’re not sure a call, text or letter is real, look up the organization’s own website rather than using the contact details in the message. Pew, for one, has a page for people who think they’ve been contacted by it.

Which way in suits you?

• To be part of the polls in the news: you can’t sign up, so answer when a pollster calls, texts or writes.
• To earn small rewards for your opinions: opt-in panels such as YouGov and Ipsos iSay pay in points.
• To see how others answer: YouGov’s Daily Questions, Civiqs’ public dashboard, or We the Panel’s weekly question.
• To track how your own views change: a panel that asks the same people over time, like ours.