Where Did You Get This Number?, Anthony Salvanto
Where Did You Get This Number?, Anthony Salvanto
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Where Did You Get This Number?
A Pollster's Guide to Making Sense of the World

Author: Anthony Salvanto

Narrator: Anthony Salvanto

Unabridged: 5 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/21/2018


Synopsis

CBS News’ Elections and Surveys Director Anthony Salvanto takes you behind the scenes of polling to show you how to think about who we are and where we’re headed as a nation.

As Elections and Surveys Director for CBS News, it’s Anthony Salvanto’s job to understand you—what you think and how you vote. He’s the person behind so many of the poll numbers you see today, making the winner calls on election nights and surveying thousands of Americans. In Where Did You Get This Number? A Pollster’s Guide to Making Sense of the World, Salvanto takes readers on a fast-paced, eye-opening tour through the world of polling and elections and what they really show about America today, beyond the who's-up-who’s-down headlines and horse races. Salvanto is just the person to bring much-needed clarity in a time when divisions seem to run so deep.

The language of polling may be numbers, but the stories it tells are about people. In this engaging insider’s account, Salvanto demystifies jargon with plain language and answers readers’ biggest questions about polling and pollsters. How can they talk to 1,000 people and know the country? How do they know the winner so fast? How do they decide what questions to ask? Why didn't they call you? Salvanto offers data-driven perspective on how Americans see the biggest issues of our time, from the surprising 2016 election, to the shocks of the financial crisis, the response to terrorism and the backlash against big money. He doesn’t shy away from pointing out what’s worked and what hasn’t. Salvanto takes readers inside the CBS newsroom on Election Night 2016 and makes readers rethink conventional wisdom and punditry just in time for the 2018 midterms. He shows who really decides elections and why you should think about a poll differently from the forecasts popularized by Nate Silver and others.

Where Did You Get This Number? is an essential resource for anyone interested in politics—and how to better measure and understand patterns of human behavior. For any American who wants to get a better read on what America is thinking, this book shows you how to make sense of it all.

About Anthony Salvanto

Anthony Salvanto, PhD, is CBS News Director of Elections and Surveys. He currently conducts all polling across the nation, states, and congressional races, and heads the Decision Desk that projects outcomes on Election Nights. He appears regularly on Face the Nation, the CBS Evening News, CBS This Morning, and more. Where Did You Get This Number? is his first book.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bandit on May 20, 2018

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 w......more

Goodreads review by Mark on November 11, 2022

This is a nearly perfect example of why I like to read nonfiction books. Even though I was advocation Lee and professionally involved in political field operations, in the past, I learned a lot of things about how polling works, and how most if not, everybody is wrong about their methods tactics, an......more

Goodreads review by Randal on August 02, 2018

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 el......more

Goodreads review by Phil on December 03, 2018

A primer on the world of polling: the selection of samples, and formulation of questions. Both those fascinated by or cynical of polling will come away with a greater appreciation of how polls and surveys are conducted, as well as a much clearer sense of what they mean.......more

Goodreads review by Kate on November 30, 2018

"It's like in baseball's 2016 World Series, when the Indians and CUbs scored the same amount of total runs in the seven-game series, but the Cubs won more games, and games are what counts. Think of runs like votes and districts like games." (p 143) I enjoyed this book. There were many moments of levi......more