Where Did You Get This Number?

“At CBS News we all knew Anthony Salvanto was the best of the best in polling, but in this book we discover he’s also a great storyteller. Salvanto mixes election night dramas with candid insight into the strengths and weakness of polling and the growing influence that public opinion sampling plays on everything from the products we buy to the candidates we choose for public office. An excellent read for politicians, journalists and voters.” —Bob Schieffer, CBS News “A revealing look at the numbers, how they’re derived and interpreted, and how they sometimes fail us. Timely reading for the coming midterm elections.” —Kirkus Reviews“Anthony Salvanto’s Where Did You Get This Number? is a witty, approachable, relevant and fun read…Whether you are a political junkie, or someone who uses market research to better understand your customer, or simply want to better understand how Trump beat Clinton, it is must reading. After doing research and surveys for hundreds of clients around the world, I wish all of them had read this book to understand how to turn data into insight and actionable intelligence. My favorite parts include his anecdotes about tasting his grandmother’s spaghetti sauce to explain to non-statisticians how you can understand the entire public from just talking to some of them, and how picking the right movie to see with your diverse family is why all averages and percentages are not created equal. The book is a great resource to not only understand surveys and polls, but more importantly, to better understand other people…a real page-turner that’s hard to put down.” —David B. Rockland, Ph.D., retired Chairman and CEO, Ketchum Global Research & Analytics“My admired friend Anthony Salvanto has written a good book about polling and you had better read it if you want to understand how professionals go about getting the right readings as they take the temperature of our country.” —Peggy Noonan, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist, The Wall Street Journal

Anthony Salvanto, PhD, is CBS News Director of Elections and Surveys. He currently conducts all polling across the nation, states, and congressional races, and heads the Decision Desk that projects outcomes on Election Nights. He appears regularly on Face the Nation, the CBS Evening News, CBS This Morning, and more. Where Did You Get This Number? is his first book.

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