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Pliny's Point on February 17, 2017
February 17, 2017: The average congressional approval rating holds steady at 21 percent, the same as last week, despite the addition of new polling data from The Economist/YouGov. Since last week, a CBS News poll was also removed from the average, after becoming 30 days old. All of the polls included in today's average are listed below, with approval ratings ranging from 17 percent (Fox News) to 28 percent (Gallup).
| Source | Date | Sample size | % approval |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economist/YouGov[1] | 2/12 - 2/14 | 1,100 registered voters | 19 |
| Gallup[2] | 2/1 - 2/5 | 1,035 adults | 28 |
| Quinnipiac University[3] | 1/20 - 1/25 | 1,190 registered voters | 19 |
| Fox News[4] | 1/15 - 1/18 | 1,006 registered voters | 17 |
Methodology
For Ballotpedia's presidential approval, congressional approval, and direction of the country polling results, we take an average of the most recent polls on one or more of these topics conducted by 12 sources. Polls may be included in the average for up to 30 days, though this timeline may be adjusted to account for major news events as we attempt to balance the need for a larger sample of results with the need to remove outdated information. For a full description of our methodology and polling explanations, see: Ballotpedia's Polling Indexes.
What's in a name?
Pliny the Elder, a scholar from the Roman Empire, is most well known for writing the encyclopedic work Naturalis Historia, or “Natural History.” His extremely thorough work covered everything from botany to technology. Naturalis Historia, one of the largest Roman works that still exists from the first century A.D., became an example for future encyclopedic works through its formatting, references, and comprehensiveness.
Today, Ballotpedia works to preserve and expand knowledge, just like Pliny did hundreds of years ago. One of the features of Ballotpedia, the encyclopedia of American politics, was a daily statistic called Pliny’s Point. Each day, between January 20, 2017 and September 1, 2017, readers learned where Americans stood on the direction of the country, or their approval of elected officials.
Click here for more Pliny's Point articles.
See also
Ballotpedia daily polling averages:
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- The Weekly Brew
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- You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition, 2016-2017
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- Special elections to the 115th United States Congress (2017-2018)
Footnotes
- ↑ YouGov, "The Economist/YouGov Poll," February 12-14, 2017
- ↑ Real Clear Politics, "Gallup Poll Social Series: World Affairs," February 1-5, 2017
- ↑ Quinnipiac University, "Trump Starts In The Hole As U.S. Voters Disapprove, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds," January 26, 2017
- ↑ Fox News, "Poll," January 19, 2017
