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CV NEWS FEED // The New York Times has taken over a major public polling database formerly maintained by FiveThirtyEight, which ABC recently shut down.
The Times announced it will now host and update the polling tracker, beginning with data on President Donald Trump’s job approval, according to a report from Nieman Lab.
Earlier this month, ABC shut down FiveThirtyEight amid company-wide cuts that eliminated about 200 positions across ABC News and Disney Entertainment. The closure of the site abruptly cut off access to their widely used polling databases, raising concerns among journalists and researchers who had depended on its tools for tracking elections and public opinion.
Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight’s founder, noted the effort behind maintaining such a database, describing it as a demanding yet essential public service.
“Polling has its challenges,” Silver wrote, “but I believe it’s vital in a democracy.”
William P. Davis, the Times’ director of election data analytics, said the paper has “begun a new effort to track public opinion surveys, starting by collecting all polls on President Trump’s job approval… building on the work of the politics website 538.”
“Our goal is to ensure that this resource, which is a foundational tool for many journalists and researchers, remains updated long-term,” Davis said.
He added that the Times plans to make the data freely available for public use, provided proper attribution is given.
He also confirmed that the Times is offering the data “in about the same format as 538 did.” Differences will be noted at the bottom of the webpage.
