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Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

The Hill

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Analysts beware of election analyses — and fallacies

The country is awash in hundreds, if not thousands, of election analyses, but many of the tools being employed are laden with problems and pitfalls...

11.12.2024 30

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Has there been a change in Senate-presidential vote correlation?

The correlation between Senate and presidential votes has been increasing, with 2024 yielding four mismatches, but the average difference between the...

04.12.2024 20

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Were the polls right? It’s complicated. 

Assessing the accuracy of polls is much more complicated than it looks. 

20.11.2024 10

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Why did Trump win? The fundamentals did it.  

Democrats should not be surprised by the election results, as fundamentals such as the economy, incumbency, and the incumbent president's approval...

13.11.2024 10

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Who will decide this election — does it even matter?

The game of deciding who decides elections is a complex one, with no clear definition of who decides the outcome, and the interaction of all...

30.10.2024 5

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Half the country will vote for Trump. What is his appeal?

Donald Trump's appeal is based on uniting three strands of conservatism, aversion to government, aversion to change, and aversion to difference, and...

16.10.2024 100

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

The relationship between presidential and Senate voting 

The correlation between presidential and Senate votes has increased significantly over the past few decades, with Democrats outperforming their...

09.10.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Unpacking Harris’s dramatic polling transformation 

Vice President Kamala Harris has seen a dramatic reversal in her favorability ratings, with voters now viewing her as net favorable by 3 points in the...

25.09.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

What the debate reveled about Donald Trump

Donald Trump's first reaction to any pressure is to lie. Trump is also frighteningly gullible, seemingly unable to distinguish trustworthy sources of...

18.09.2024 100

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Will the debate prove decisive? 

Debates are rarely decisive in determining the outcome of presidential elections, with the impact of a debate being minimal and often overshadowed by...

11.09.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Continuity and change in campaign 2024

Replacing Joe Biden with Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket weeks before the convention led to a shift of less than a point and a...

31.07.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Political impacts of assassination attempts 

The impact of an assassination attempt on an election is unpredictable, with some politicians benefiting from the incident while others do not, as...

17.07.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

What I know and don’t know about Biden and the debate 

President Biden's mental and physical health, as well as his debate performance, are being scrutinized by the political world, but it is impossible to...

10.07.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Trump's convictions show no distinct effect on voter backing

With Donald Trump’s felony convictions inscribed in the historical record and the first debate of the presidential cycle about to take place, time...

26.06.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Whither the working class?

In short, despite the definitional diversity, one conclusion seems clear: Democrats are no longer the preferred party of the working class. 

12.06.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mellman: Partisan political hacks in black robes

robes. Partisanship and ideology are more important to them than integrity and the Constitution they swore to defend. 

29.05.2024 100

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mellman: Diving deeper — The Trump economy vs. the Biden economy 

If the argument I’ve made here before is right — if people live less in a “jobs economy” and more in a “cost of living economy,” we can...

22.05.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mellman: How pollsters’ backroom decisions affect the polling results you see

The key point though is that a decision to mix two seemingly quite different categories of responses produced a significant impact on the analysis...

15.05.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mellman: Trump's warning about America and the demonstrations 

Politicians who appear to capitulate to the demands of the mob have much to lose and little to gain — unless your goal is to assist Trump.  

08.05.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mellman: Election Day is nearing — How is President Biden doing? 

Forecasters who suggest one candidate or the other is a certain victor have a 50/50 chance of being 100 percent right.  

01.05.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mellman: Lessons from problematic Holocaust denial polling 

The lesson is clear. Question wording can have a substantial impact on responses, with complex or confusing wording yielding inaccurate results and...

10.04.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mellman: Religion’s political power 

Donald Trump, hardly known as a scholar of Christian scripture, is now hawking Bibles. It is a strange story that sums up an important reality in...

03.04.2024 60

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mellman: My apologies — and a rise in Biden’s approval rating

President Biden’s approval rating actually increased by 2 points in the wake of this SOTU, better than the average increase of zero.  

27.03.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mellman: The SOTU fails to move Biden’s numbers. That’s no surprise.

President Biden delivered a great speech, galvanizing Democrats, demonstrating he’s still at the top of his game, giving his troops talking points...

20.03.2024 100

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mellman: Any number in a storm — looking to predict elections

Predicting general election outcomes from primary results is a fool’s errand. The next redoubt of those scouring the tea leaves provided by primary...

28.02.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mellman: Will convictions hurt Trump?  

Beliefs are persistent, stubborn things. People fancy themselves open to new information and diverse perspectives, and sometimes we are. But mostly,...

14.02.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Presidential candidates don't know when to fold

Why do these candidates so frequently postpone their reckoning with reality for so long? While each has his or her own psychology, from my experience...

07.02.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mellman: Updating the GOP primary and holiday shopping

Interpreting poll results requires strict fealty to the parameters of the questions’ wording. Trying to measure complex concepts with one or two...

31.01.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mellman: Why has Trump remained so popular with Republicans?  

Support for Donald Trump was forged by partisanship and held in place by a combination of that partisanship and people’s reluctance to change their...

17.01.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

The pitfalls of polling about a Gaza ceasefire

People like world peace and ceasefires. But public policy involves tradeoffs and conflicting values.  Understanding how voters make the tradeoffs...

10.01.2024 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mellman: Different questions, different projections

Two different questions—both seemingly reasonable—yielding opposite forecasts. How is that possible?

13.12.2023 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

Mellman: The problem with interpreting poll crosstabs

In short, be careful interpreting crosstabs, and even more important, don’t plan a campaign strategy around applying conventional wisdom to the...

06.12.2023 90

The Hill

Mark Mellman, Opinion Contributor

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