Midterm Election Poll: Washington’s 8th District, Rossi vs. Schrier
We polled voters in Washington’s 8th Congressional District.
This poll was conducted from Sept. 24 to Sept. 26.
Can Democrats finally flip this Republican-held blue district? We made 40568 calls, and 505 people spoke to us.
Our poll shows a close race.
Our poll result is about what was expected. But remember: It’s just one poll, and we talked to only 505 people. Each candidate’s total could easily be five points different if we polled everyone in the district. And having a small sample is only one possible source of error.
This survey was conducted by The New York Times Upshot and Siena College. Where we called:
Each dot shows one of the 40568 calls we made.
Vote choice: Dem. Rep. Don’t know Didn’t answerTo preserve privacy, exact addresses have been concealed. The locations shown here are approximate.
Explore the 2016 election in detail with this interactive map.
About the race
Kim Schrier is a pediatrician and a first-time candidate. 34% favorable rating; 25% unfavorable; 41% don’t know
Based on 505 interviews
Dino Rossi is a former legislator with high name recognition from several statewide campaigns. 45% favorable rating; 39% unfavorable; 16% don’t know
Based on 505 interviews
This open seat has drawn national interest as a potential pick-up for Democrats.
This district has never sent a Democrat to the House, but it has regularly voted for Democrats in presidential races. Congressman Dave Reichert’s decision to retire dealt a big blow to Republicans’ chances of extending their streak. He even held the district through the 2006 and 2008 Democratic wave elections.
Mr. Rossi is considered one of the top Republican recruits of the cycle, and his bid is a major reason this is still considered a top-tier race. He has raised nearly $3 million.
Mr. Rossi has served as a state senator and has repeatedly sought statewide office, running for governor twice and the U.S. Senate once. He won this district each time.
Ms. Schrier is focusing on health care and has said the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act prompted her to run for office.
The district’s quirky boundary embraces affluent high-tech suburbs and Boeing facilities to the west and cherry and apple farms across the Cascade Mountains, and its business makeup leaves it vulnerable to the president’s actions on trade.
Previous election results:
| 2016 President | +3 Clinton |
| 2012 President | +2 Obama |
| 2016 House | +20 Rep. |
It’s generally best to look at a single poll in the context of other polls:
| Polls | Dates | Schrier | Rossi | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Siena College/New York Times n = 477 lv | Oct. 30-Nov. 4 | 48% | 45% | Schrier +3 |
| Elway Research 400 rv | Oct. 4-9 | 39% | 49% | Rossi +10 |
| GBA Strategies (D.) 300 lv | Apr. 18-22 | 45% | 51% | Rossi +6 |
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How our poll result changed
As we reach more people, our poll will become more stable and the margin of sampling error will shrink. The changes in the timeline below reflect that sampling error, not real changes in the race.
One reason we’re doing these surveys live is so you can see the uncertainty for yourself.
But sampling error is not the only type of error in a poll.
Our turnout model
There’s a big question on top of the standard margin of error in a poll: Who is going to vote? It’s a particularly challenging question this year, since special elections have shown Democrats voting in large numbers.
To estimate the likely electorate, we combine what people say about how likely they are to vote with information about how often they have voted in the past. In previous races, this approach has been more accurate than simply taking people at their word. But there are many other ways to do it.
Assumptions about who is going to vote may be particularly important in this race.
Our poll under different turnout scenarios
| Who will vote? | Est. turnout | Our poll result |
|---|---|---|
| The types of people who voted in 2014 | 194k | Rossi +5 |
| People who say they are almost certain to vote, and no one else | 249k | Schrier +4 |
| Our estimate | 252k | Schrier +1 |
| People whose voting history suggests they will vote, regardless of what they say | 253k | Even |
| People who say they will vote, adjusted for past levels of truthfulness | 270k | Schrier +1 |
| The types of people who voted in 2016 | 312k | Even |
| Every active registered voter | 430k | Schrier +1 |
All estimates based on 505 interviews
The types of people we reached
Even if we got turnout exactly right, the margin of error wouldn’t capture all of the error in a poll. The simplest version assumes we have a perfect random sample of the voting population. We do not.
People who respond to surveys are almost always too old, too white, too educated and too politically engaged to accurately represent everyone.
How successful we were in reaching different kinds of voters
| Called | Inter- viewed | Success rate | Our responses | Goal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 to 29 | 4364 | 27 | 1 in 162 | 5% | 9% |
| 30 to 64 | 25879 | 320 | 1 in 81 | 63% | 62% |
| 65 and older | 6110 | 158 | 1 in 39 | 31% | 29% |
| Male | 16105 | 242 | 1 in 67 | 48% | 48% |
| Female | 20254 | 263 | 1 in 77 | 52% | 52% |
| White | 28320 | 423 | 1 in 67 | 84% | 80% |
| Nonwhite | 4635 | 41 | 1 in 113 | 8% | 11% |
| Cell | 20917 | 278 | 1 in 75 | 55% | — |
| Landline | 15442 | 227 | 1 in 68 | 45% | — |
Based on administrative records. Some characteristics are missing or incorrect. Many voters are called multiple times.
Pollsters compensate by giving more weight to respondents from under-represented groups.
Here, we’re weighting by age, primary vote, gender, likelihood of voting, race, education and region, mainly using data from voting records files compiled by L2, a nonpartisan voter file vendor.
But weighting works only if you weight by the right categories and you know what the composition of the electorate will be. In 2016, many pollsters didn’t weight by education and overestimated Hillary Clinton’s standing as a result.
Even after weighting, our poll does not have as many of some types of people as we would like.
Here are other common ways to weight a poll:
Our poll under different weighting schemes
| Our poll result | |
|---|---|
| Don’t weight by primary vote, like most public polls | Schrier +5 |
| Weight using census data instead of voting records, like most public polls | Schrier +4 |
| Don’t weight by education, like many polls in 2016 | Schrier +1 |
| Our estimate | Schrier +1 |
All estimates based on 505 interviews
Just because one candidate leads in all of these different weighting scenarios doesn’t mean much by itself. They don’t represent the full range of possible weighting scenarios, let alone the full range of possible election results.
Undecided voters
About 9 percent of voters said that they were undecided or refused to tell us whom they would vote for.
Issues and other questions
We're asking voters about health care, and also about whether they support Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
Do you approve or disapprove of the job Donald Trump is doing as president?
| Approve | Disapp. | Don’t know | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voters n = 505 | 45% | 48% | 7% |
Would you prefer Republicans to retain control of the House of Representatives or would you prefer Democrats to take control?
| Reps. keep House | Dems. take House | Don’t know | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voters n = 505 | 45% | 47% | 8% |
Do you support or oppose Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the United States Supreme Court?
| support | oppose | Don’t know | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voters n = 505 | 45% | 43% | 12% |
Do you support the creation of a national insurance program, in which every American would get insurance from a single government plan?
| Support | Oppose | Don’t know | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voters n = 505 | 52% | 41% | 7% |
Do you support repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare?
| Support | Oppose | Don’t know | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voters n = 505 | 48% | 46% | 6% |
Do you or a member of your family have a pre-existing health care condition like asthma, heart disease or diabetes?
| Yes | No | Don’t know | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voters n = 505 | 40% | 58% | 1% |
Percentages are weighted to resemble likely voters.
What different types of voters said
Voters nationwide are deeply divided along demographic lines. Our poll suggests divisions too. But don’t overinterpret these tables. Results among subgroups may not be representative or reliable. Be especially careful with groups with fewer than 100 respondents, shown here in stripes.
Gender
| Dem. | Rep. | Und. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female n = 263 / 52% of voters | 50% | 40% | 10% |
| Male 242 / 48% | 42% | 51% | 7% |
Age
| Dem. | Rep. | Und. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 to 29 n = 28 / 6% of voters | 67% | 27% | 6% |
| 30 to 44 90 / 22% | 43% | 44% | 13% |
| 45 to 64 229 / 43% | 45% | 48% | 7% |
| 65 and older 158 / 29% | 44% | 46% | 10% |
Race
| Dem. | Rep. | Und. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White n = 426 / 83% of voters | 45% | 47% | 9% |
| Nonwhite 66 / 14% | 54% | 37% | 9% |
Race and education
| Dem. | Rep. | Und. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nonwhite n = 66 / 14% of voters | 54% | 37% | 9% |
| White, college grad 204 / 37% | 48% | 46% | 7% |
| White, not college grad 222 / 46% | 42% | 48% | 10% |
Education
| Dem. | Rep. | Und. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| H.S. Grad. or Less n = 65 / 18% of voters | 43% | 42% | 15% |
| Some College Educ. 191 / 35% | 44% | 48% | 7% |
| 4-year College Grad. 143 / 29% | 45% | 48% | 7% |
| Post-grad. 100 / 16% | 54% | 39% | 8% |
Party
| Dem. | Rep. | Und. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Democrat n = 145 / 28% of voters | 91% | 5% | 4% |
| Republican 138 / 28% | 7% | 88% | 5% |
| Independent 198 / 40% | 44% | 42% | 14% |
| Another party 15 / 3% | 18% | 62% | 20% |
Primary vote
| Dem. | Rep. | Und. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic n = 179 / 31% of voters | 83% | 10% | 6% |
| Republican 170 / 33% | 8% | 85% | 7% |
| Other 156 / 35% | 48% | 39% | 13% |
Intention of voting
| Dem. | Rep. | Und. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Almost certain n = 352 / 72% of voters | 46% | 45% | 9% |
| Very likely 120 / 24% | 45% | 48% | 7% |
| Somewhat likely 23 / 4% | 54% | 35% | 11% |
| Not very likely 2 / 0% | — | — | 100% |
| Not at all likely 8 / 1% | — | 17% | 83% |
Percentages are weighted to resemble likely voters; the number of respondents in each subgroup is unweighted. Undecided voters includes those who refused to answer.
Other districts where we’ve completed polls
About this poll
- Most responses shown here are delayed about 30 minutes. Some are delayed longer for technical reasons.
- The design effect of this poll is 1.12. That’s a measure of how much weighting we are doing to make our respondents resemble all voters.
- Read more about the methodology for this poll.
- Download the microdata behind this poll.
This survey was conducted by The New York Times Upshot and Siena College.
Data collection by Reconnaissance Market Research, M. Davis and Company, the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research at Roanoke College, the Survey Research Center at the University of Waterloo, the University of North Florida and the Siena College Research Institute.