The who and how of the poll

The Spokesman-Review and KREM-TV commissioned a survey of Spokane city voters by Research 2000, a firm based in Olney, Md., with an extensive history in national, state and Spokane area political polling.

Research 2000 has conducted polls for the newspaper dating to 1999, and its president, Del Ali, conducted polls for the newspaper dating to 1994 when he was affiliated with another national firm, Mason-Dixon Political Media Research.

Before conducting the poll, Research 2000 purchased a list of telephone numbers of registered city voters who had voted in at least one election last year, and selected numbers from that list at random. Persons who answered the phone were asked first if they were registered to vote in Spokane and how likely they were to vote in the Dec. 6 special election. Those who said they would definitely or probably vote were surveyed, those who said they may not or would not vote were not surveyed.

The phone calls were made between Sunday and Wednesday.

The poll was conducted by accepted standards and methods of the industry, with one adjustment. Most political polls for campaigns are based on a sample of 400 to 500 people, which produces a margin of error of between 4.2 and 4.9 percent. The Spokesman-Review/KREM-TV poll is based on a sample of 1,100 people, which reduces the margin of error to 3 percent.