Yale Alumni Journalism Association

Yale Alumni Journalism AssociationPresents 

A Conversation with Humphrey Taylor
Chairman of the Harris Poll

“Strengths and Weaknesses of the Polls: What they do and do not tell us about the elections”

 Tuesday, October 9, 2012

5:30-6:15PM  Informal Reception
6:15-6:30PM  Review of YAJA Plans
6:30-7:30PM  Program 

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
919 Third Avenue
(Entrance at East 55th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues)
New York, NY 10022

This is the second of a series of events to be presented by the Yale Alumni Journalism Association (YAJA).  Membership in the Association is open to Yale graduates working in, retired from, or interested in the field of journalism.

The October 9^th program will be particularly timely in the midst of the current Presidential debates, and only weeks before the actual election.  Humphrey Taylor will be examining the following questions, and many others, about political polls: 

How accurate are they?
What is the real “margin of error”?
How reliable are exit polls?
Are polls getting better or worse?
What is the future of polling?  Can we trust on-line polling?

Humphrey Taylor has been Chairman of the Harris Poll, a service of Harris Interactive, since 1994.  He has overall responsibility for more than 8,000 surveys in more than 80 countries.  He has testified before Congressional Committees on Social Security, health care, taxation and privacy, and has made presentations in the White House and on Capitol Hill.

Humphrey has a distinguished track record in predicting election results.  In 1970, his British company was the only one of seven national polls to correctly predict a Conservative victory.  In the 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2008 Presidential elections, the Harris Poll, under Humphrey’s direction, accurately predicted the share of votes cast for each of the major candidates. 

Humphrey has authored more than 1,000 columns and articles, many of them appearing in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the London Times.  In the 1980s, he pioneered the use of surveys to compare the health systems of diverse countries, and in the 1990s he was a leader in developing Internet-based surveys and on-line polling.  He is currently chairman of the National Council on Public Polls, and has guest-lectured at Harvard, Yale, Oxford, NYU and UCSF. 

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 $10 Registration FeeSpace is Limited!  Register by October 7^thClick Here To Register

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Membership in the Yale Alumni Journalism Association (YAJA) is open to any graduate of Yale University working in, retired from, or interested in the journalism field.  There are more than 1000 Yale graduates currently working in news media organizations in print, television, or on-line.  The news business is the only private enterprise in American life that has a Constitutional protection--the First Amendment.  That distinction carries with it a moral obligation to responsibly serve the public interest, and strengthen the ethical standards of news gathering.  The Association will bring talented, diverse journalists to the campus, and other locations, for timely symposia and interaction with both students and faculty.  Other activities such as publications, a website, mentoring programs, and awards for excellence will develop over time. 

For more information, contact Henry Kwan, Director of Shared Interest Groups, at henry.kwan@yale.edu