POLLING DIRECTOR MURRAY

TO APPEAR ON PBS’S ‘NOVA’

            West Long Branch, NJ – Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, will appear on the next edition of PBS’ award-winning documentary series “NOVA.”

The show “Prediction by the Numbers” airs on Feb. 28 at 9 p.m., and Murray will be featured in a segment on polling. A PBS crew visited the Monmouth University campus in June of 2017 to discuss polling procedures with Murray, who was named the Monmouth University Polling Institute’s founding director in 2005.

According to the episode’s description, “Predictions underlie nearly every aspect of our lives, from sports, politics, and medical decisions to the morning commute. With the explosion of digital technology, the internet, and ‘big data,’ the science of forecasting is flourishing. But why do some predictions succeed spectacularly while others fail abysmally?”

The Monmouth University Poll received an A+ rating from the polling website FiveThirtyEight.com and has been called “freakishly accurate” by the Asbury Park Press. Murray, who has appeared on PolitickerNJ’s annual “Power List” of the 100 most influential people in New Jersey politics for several years, frequently is quoted by leading newspapers, magazines and websites and has appeared on various shows on CNN, Fox, MSNBC and ABC.

The Monmouth University Polling Institute is a leading center for the study of public opinion on critical national and state issues. The Institute fosters greater public accountability by ensuring that the public’s voice is heard in policy discourse. It does so by monitoring public opinion on current issues; collaborating with faculty and students to enhance research and training opportunities; and providing research that assists policymakers with planning and assessment.