UPDATED Mar. 13, 2023, at 3:53 PM

FiveThirtyEight’s Pollster Ratings

Based on the historical accuracy and methodology of each polling organization’s polls.

B/C

University of South Alabama Polling Group

Also known as USA Polling Group

Polls analyzed	9
Races called correctly	100%
Most recent cycle	2010
Affiliated with AAPOR/Roper	No
Other names	USA Polling Group

What are pollster ratings?

How accurate are the polls from University of South Alabama Polling Group?

Polls conducted within 21 days of an election (based on the poll’s median date) are used to determine the pollster’s grade.

2010

Key

A = Adults

RV = Registered voters

V = Voters

LV = Likely voters

Dates	Sample	Race	Methodology	Poll margin	Election margin	Difference
Oct 6-21	777LV	Governor (AL) General election	Live Phone	Poll Bentley +13.0	Actual Bentley +15.8	Difference 2.8

2008

Dates	Sample	Race	Methodology	Poll margin	Election margin	Difference
Oct 13-22	405LV	Senate (MS) Special election	Live Phone	Poll Wicker +13.0	Actual Wicker +9.9	Difference 3.1
Oct 13-22	405LV	President (MS) General election	Live Phone	Poll McCain +13.0	Actual McCain +13.2	Difference 0.2

2002

Dates	Sample	Race	Methodology	Poll margin	Election margin	Difference
Oct 21-24	926LV	Senate (AL) General election	Live Phone	Poll Sessions +30.0	Actual Sessions +18.8	Difference 11.2
Oct 21-24	926LV	Governor (AL) General election	Live Phone	Poll Riley +4.0	Actual Riley +0.2	Difference 3.8

2000

Dates	Sample	Race	Methodology	Poll margin	Election margin	Difference
Oct 30-Nov 2	442LV	President (AL) General election	Live Phone	Poll Bush +20.0	Actual Bush +14.9	Difference 5.1
Oct 16-19	407LV	President (AL) General election	Live Phone	Poll Bush +20.0	Actual Bush +14.9	Difference 5.1

1998

Dates	Sample	Race	Methodology	Poll margin	Election margin	Difference
Oct 28	820LV	Governor (AL) General election	Live Phone	Poll Siegelman +16.0	Actual Siegelman +15.6	Difference 0.4
Oct 21	820LV	Governor (AL) General election	Live Phone	Poll Siegelman +14.0	Actual Siegelman +15.6	Difference 1.6

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How this works

FiveThirtyEight’s pollster ratings are calculated by analyzing the historical accuracy of each polling organization’s polls along with its methodology. Accuracy scores are adjusted for the type of election polled, the poll’s sample size, the performance of other polls surveying the same race and other factors. We also calculate measures of statistical bias in the polls. When a pollster publishes multiple versions of the same survey (for example, versions with and without third-party candidates included), FiveThirtyEight uses an average of the different versions to calculate the pollster’s rating. However, all versions of these polls are listed here. Read more about our methodology»

Download this data as an Excel spreadsheet or get it on GitHub.

Design and development by Elena Mejía and Aaron Bycoffe. Research by Mary Radcliffe, Cooper Burton and Dhrumil Mehta. Copy editing by Andrew Mangan. Visual editing by Christopher Groskopf. Statistical model by Nate Silver.

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