Q&A: Are polls trustworthy?

In the final stretch to the midterm elections, polls have come out tracking candidates' likelihood of victory at the local, state and federal levels. According to Tim Servinsky, project manager at Penn State Harrisburg's Center for Survey Research, polls built with the right questions and asked to the right population can be accurate and a critical tool for policymakers. However, particularly in the context of political polling, there are important details to keep in mind when reading and interpreting the most recent polling projections.