The third and final symposium in the Interdisciplinary Collaborative Workshop (ICW) series dedicated to the celebration of Eighty Years of the Minnesota Poll took place in Coffman Memorial Union on September 19th, 2025.

The gathering brought Minnesota journalists together with a range of scholars across the College of Liberal Arts along with leading local and national experts in the field of public opinion research to consider the future of state and local opinion research. The program included three panels addressing traditional and emerging methods, applications to the study of news audiences and journalism, and unique challenges and opportunities facing Minnesota.

Susan Sherr from the survey firm SSRS, discussed her organization’s efforts in partnership with the School of Public Health and the Minnesota Department of Health to field the Minnesota Health Access Survey, a large sample survey dating back to 1990 that tracks information on how people access health care and health insurance coverage in Minnesota. Sherr noted that polling in Minnesota poses particular challenges given its “more homogeneous” population, which SSRS addresses in part through careful sample stratification and statistical modeling, which allows researchers to ensure balanced representation across different segments of the population.