Pollster · Academic

Elon University Poll

Also published as Elon University.

AAPOR Transparency Initiative since January 14, 20152Research draft
Polls since 2024
5
Latest poll ended
October 8, 2026
Record vs. results, relative
D+0.8

Polls from the VoteHub polling API, used under CC BY 4.0. Each result links to the pollster's or sponsor's own release. Imported once a day; a poll VoteHub later changes keeps its earlier version on record here.

§1About

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

The Elon University Poll is a survey program of Elon University in Elon, North Carolina, that its website says conducts regular statewide and national surveys on issues important to North Carolina residents.3 Its about page says it started in 2000, is fully funded by the university as a public service, does no contract work, and has been directed since 2016 by political science professor Jason Husser.3 Its October 2026 release says that survey was designed by the poll and fielded online by YouGov, and calls the poll a charter member of the AAPOR Transparency Initiative.4

Kind
Academic3
Founded
20003,4

§2Who it works with

Why this matters: Owners, news partners and the firms behind a poll's interviews shape what gets asked, how, and what gets published.

Part of

  • Elon University (2000–now). Its about page says the poll is part of Elon University and fully funded by it.3

Fieldwork or panel by

  • YouGov. Its October 2026 release says YouGov fielded that survey as an online, self-administered panel survey, and its methodology page names YouGov among the firms it works with.4,5
  • Ipsos. Its methodology page names Ipsos, along with YouGov and unnamed others, among the market research firms that field its online panel surveys.5

Led by

  • Jason Husser (2016–now). Its about page says political science professor Jason Husser has directed the poll since 2016.3

Published with

Names its polls have been published under, alongside other pollsters or news outlets.

  • Elon University/YouGov: YouGov · 5 polls listed

§3Whom it works for

Why this matters: A firm that also works for one party's campaigns can still publish accurate polls, but readers deserve to know.

Says it does no work for parties or candidates. Its about page describes the poll as a neutral information resource that is fully funded by Elon University and does no contract work. This rests on its own description.3

Of its 5 polls listed since the 2024 election, VoteHub flags 0 as paid for by a Democratic-aligned sponsor and 0 by a Republican-aligned sponsor6.

§4Record against results

Why this matters: The one test that doesn't depend on other polls: how close a firm's final polls came to what voters did.

From FiveThirtyEight's final public data7,8: general-election polls between a Democrat and a Republican in the last three weeks before each election, compared with the certified result. FiveThirtyEight rated each name polls were published under separately. Across all 8,957 such polls, the average miss was D+0.7, so the relative figure takes out the misses every pollster shared that year.

Error is the poll's D−R margin minus the result's; D+ means it showed Democrats doing better than they did.
Published asPollsElectionsAverage missRelative to other pollsTypical size of miss538's last rating
Elon University82008–2016D+2.1D+0.83.1 pts2.5 of 3

ABC News closed FiveThirtyEight in March 2025; its data stops at the 2022 elections. 2026 results will be added once states certify them.

§5Its polls

The 5 polls of its we list, newest first.
In the fieldQuestionResultWithPaid for bySample
September 29–October 8, 2026U.S. Senate · 2026 North CarolinaRoy Cooper 52 · Michael Whatley 39 · Shannon Bray 2 · Michael Dublin 1YouGov561 LV
August 21–August 31, 2026U.S. Senate · 2026 North CarolinaRoy Cooper 49 · Michael Whatley 38 · Shannon Bray 2 · Michael Dublin 2YouGov565 LV
July 21–July 23, 2026U.S. Senate · 2026 North CarolinaRoy Cooper 51 · Michael Whatley 35 · Michael Dublin 2 · Shannon Bray 1YouGov717 RV
July 21–July 23, 2026U.S. Senate · 2026 North CarolinaRoy Cooper 53 · Michael Whatley 42 · Shannon Bray 2 · Michael Dublin 1YouGov466 LV
April 10–April 17, 2025Job approval · Donald TrumpDisapprove 47 · Approve 41YouGov1,000 A

§6What we looked for and didn't find

  • No standing news partner was found; the pages read say only that results are shared with media, citizens and public officials.
  • The methodology page does not say when YouGov or Ipsos began fielding its surveys.
  • Some topics on its about page name outside organizations in parentheses, such as the N.C. Open Government Coalition, without saying whether they sponsored or partnered on those surveys.
  • One search for AAPOR statements, retractions, corrections and withdrawn polls found none; aggregator pages were not searched one by one.