|
John Zogby (born 1948) is a noted American political pollster. He is known for both his phone polling and interactive, Internet-based polling. Some consider his poll methods questionable, especially in his Internet polls, which are based entirely upon a self-selected body of respondents.
Zogby correctly predicted the cliffhanger result of the 2000 presidential election for George W. Bush, in contrast to most other pollsters who had expected Bush to win easily. In 2004, however, his predictions failed to materialize. Before polls had even closed in the 2004 presidential election, Zogby predicted a comfortable win for John Kerry (311 electoral votes, versus 213 for Bush, with 14 too close to call), saying that "Bush had this election lost a long time ago," adding that voters wanted a change and would vote for "any candidate who was not Bush." While admitting that he was mistaken, Zogby did not admit any possible flaws in his poll methods, insisting that his predictions were all "within the margin of error." Meanwhile, opponents charged that his calling the race for Kerry while polling was still going on may have been a cynical attempt to depress the turnout.
Zogby has had better success with other elections, both domestic and foreign. He correctly called the Quebec provincial election of 1998 for the Liberals, the 2001 Israeli election for Ariel Sharon, and the 2000 Mexican election for Vicente Fox.
Zogby is a graduate of Le Moyne College and Syracuse University. He has taught history and political science at the State University of New York, Utica College, and at the Arthur Levity Public Affairs Center at Hamilton College. A trustee of Le Moyne College, Zogby received the Alumni Award in June 2000.
Zogby has three sons with his wife, Kathleen Zogby, a special education teacher. His interests include golf, basketball, and soccer coaching.
Best known as an interpreter of the political scene, Zogby had a brief stint as an aspiring politician himself in 1981, when he ran unsuccessfully for the Mayoralty of Utica. He describes himself as a liberal Democrat.
See also:
|
