Since January YouGov has been testing a new, mobile phone app-based polling method called First Verdict. Each day we ask three questions to a panel of nearly 5,000 YouGov First Verdict app users to get their snap reactions to news and current affairs.
The results are weighted instantly within the app by three variables: age, gender and political leaning. This gives a result that is close to, but not precisely the same as, a regular poll. We are now working on a larger sample and multi-variable weightings to achieve something still closer to our regular polls. We call this resource ‘First Verdict’ as it allows us to measure public opinion very quickly – results become stable in less than an hour. ‘First Verdict’ will integrate good quality feedback into the public debate and facilitate a greater range of experimentation. As we develop our methodology we'll keep you posted. And if you'd like to subscribe to First Verdict just search for "YouGov First Verdict" in your App Store.
Onto the latest findings!
This week saw clear support for California Governor Jerry Brown's possible smoking age change to 21.
On US-Cuban relations the picture was intriguingly mixed. There was strong support for normalization of relations between the Cold War enemies.
Americans do, however, continue to believe President Kennedy was right to attempt regime change in the Bay of Pigs invasion 55 years ago.
Sunday, National Corndog Day, saw First Verdict seek to settle John Hodgman's perennial 'hotdog = sandwich, yay or nay?' debate.
Lastly, while polling this week's obligatory 'Donald Trump said what?' question, First Verdict found opinion split between maintaining American support for NATO or scaling back.
Please feel free to use the comments section below to suggest further questions for First Verdict to explore other snap opinions on topics both serious and light. And remember, if you'd like to join the panel just just search for "YouGov First Verdict" in your App Store. Thanks!
