What are NH Voters Thinking About? Dartmouth Students Complete 2011 Rockefeller Center State of the State Poll

Rockefeller Center Completes 4th Annual New Hampshire State of the State Poll on Politics, Economic Issues, and Social Policies.

During the week of April 11-14, 2011, more than three dozen students from The Nelson A. Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College conducted the 4th Annual Rockefeller Center State of the State Poll, a telephone survey of registered voters in New Hampshire. Drawn from a statewide data base of New Hampshire registered voters, the sample survey respondents were asked a wide range of questions relating to the current political, economic, and social state of affairs in New Hampshire and the country as a whole. 

In addition, respondents were asked to select candidates for President in trial heats of the 2012 election.  The 43-question survey took between eight and ten minutes to complete.  Calls were made between the hours of 6:30 pm and 9:30 pm on Monday through Thursday evenings. Additional call-backs were made during daytime hours on Thursday, April 14 when specified by poll participants. 

Over the course of the week, student callers made three attempts to contact each of the registered voters drawn in the sample.  A total of 426 survey interviews were completed during the four-day calling period, yielding an error rate of +/-4.8 percent at a 95 percent confidence interval.

Headlines from the 2011 Rockefeller Center State of the State Poll include:

• Voters pessimistic about economic future.
• Trump trounced, Romney and Powell victorious in hypothetical matchups against Obama.
• NH voters prioritize balancing the state budget over building the economy.
• Less than one-quarter of voters approve of the job performance of the NH Legislature.

The results of the survey can be found in the full report now available (PDF). Poll results were also the subject of an Associated Press article that has been picked up by several news outlets, and mentioned by others writing about the next NH Presidential Primary.  Do you have a media mention to add to this list?  Please leave a comment to let us know.