Society · Facts & sources
4 sourced facts about surveys, polling and public-opinion research itself, each with the context behind the number. 4 more are in today's round and appear here after it closes.
Answerabout $150 billion
Surveys and polling are the backbone of a market research industry projected to keep growing at roughly 8% a year.
Source: Wikipedia, market research (2025) en.wikipedia.org
Answerabout 1,700 homes
Today Nielsen blends panels with 'big data' spanning tens of millions of households and devices — a massive scale-up from the 1980s.
Source: Wikipedia, Nielsen ratings (2024) en.wikipedia.org
Answer20,000 voters
Calling elections from relatively small exit-poll samples has long been controversial, since early calls can affect voters still in line.
Source: Wikipedia, exit poll (2024) en.wikipedia.org
Answerabout 7.5 million texts
By season 8 in 2009, that number had exploded to about 178 million texts, showing how fast mobile 'polling' scaled up.
Source: Wikipedia, American Idol (2024) en.wikipedia.org