How the poll was conducted

Last update: October 22, 2008 - 12:00 AM

Today's Star Tribune Minnesota Poll findings were based on telephone interviews conducted Thursday and Friday with a representative sample of 1,200 Minnesota adults, 18 years old and older, including 1,049 likely voters.

Interviews were conducted under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International. Results of a poll based on 1,200 interviews will vary by no more than 3.6 percentage points, plus or minus, from the overall population 95 times out of 100. Margins are larger for groups within the sample, such as Democrats and Republicans.

The poll does not include interviews with cell phone users.

Sampling error does not take into account other sources of variation inherent in public opinion surveys such as nonresponse, question wording or context effects. In addition, news events, such as the financial problems on Wall Street, may have affected opinions during the period the poll was taken. Readers can e-mail questions to djmcgrath@startribune.com.

Recent Local + Metro stories

Man charged in UI vandalism pleads not guilty - October 22, 2008

Man charged in UI vandalism pleads not guilty - A Minnesota activist arrested in the 2004 animal rights vandalism at the University of Iowa has pleaded not guilty in federal court. More