Pew Research Center has deep roots in U.S. public opinion research. Launched initially as a project focused primarily on U.S. policy and politics in the early 1990s, the Center has grown over time to study a wide range of topics vital to explaining America to itself and to the world. Our hallmarks: a rigorous approach to methodological quality, complete transparency as to our methods, and a commitment to exploring and evaluating ongoing developments in data collection. Learn more about how we conduct our domestic surveys here.

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From the 1980s until relatively recently, most national polling organizations conducted surveys by telephone, relying on live interviewers to call randomly selected Americans across the country. Then came the internet. While it took survey researchers some time to adapt to the idea of online surveys, a quick look at the public polls on an issue like presidential approval reveals a landscape now dominated by online polls rather than phone polls.

Most of our U.S. surveys are conducted on the American Trends Panel (ATP), Pew Research Center’s national survey panel of over 10,000 randomly selected U.S. adults. ATP participants are recruited offline using random sampling from the U.S. Postal Service’s residential address file. Survey length is capped at 15 minutes, and respondents are reimbursed for their time. Respondents complete the surveys online using smartphones, tablets or desktop devices. We provide tablets and data plans to adults without home internet. Learn more about how people in the U.S. take Pew Research Center surveys.

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The Center also conducts custom surveys of special populations (e.g., Muslim Americans, Jewish Americans, Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, teenagers) that are not readily studied using national, general population sampling. The Center’s survey research is sometimes paired with demographic or organic data to provide new insights. In addition to our U.S. survey research, you can also read more details on our international survey research, our demographic research and our data science methods.

Our survey researchers are committed to contributing to the larger community of survey research professionals, and are active in AAPOR and is a charter member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Transparency Initiative.

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