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Survey Methodology [Zogby America Likely Voters] 12/12/07 thru 12/14/07 This is a telephone survey of [likely voters] conducted by Zogby International. The target sample is [1000 likely voter] interviews with approximately [96] questions asked. Samples are randomly drawn from telephone cd’s of national listed sample. Zogby International surveys employ sampling strategies in which selection probabilities are proportional to population size within area codes and exchanges. Up to six calls are made to reach a sampled phone number. Cooperation rates are calculated using one of AAPOR’s approved methodologies[1] and are comparable to other professional public-opinion surveys conducted using similar sampling strategies.[2]...

<p>Widely reported this week was a study on charter schools by the Department of Education. Using national aggregate data, it concluded that charter students lag public school students in reading and math.</p> <p>But in another study, Harvard's Caroline Hoxby concludes otherwise. Hoxby finds that charter students soundly outpace their public school peers and that, as charter schools mature, their students' lead grows even stronger.</p>

The small community of pollsters involved in political campaigns has often been compared to the cast of a soap opera, replete with friendships and feuds, couplings and partings that often span decades. Survey USA, the leading firm in automated telephone polling, is the self-acknowledged black sheep of this family."I am not a member of their club," said SurveyUSA's JayLeve, who bills himself as the firm's editor. "I don't go out of my way to solicit their blessing."Founded in 1992, Survey USA now boasts 50 local television stations as clients, according to Leve.And yet, a number of established news entities -including...