Ocean Grove, NJ – September 21, 2026
The Honest Poll, the independent polling and media venture founded by Mark Mitchell, former Director of Polling at Rasmussen Reports, has been added to the national polling averages maintained by The New York Times and Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ).
"We built this company on one idea: polls shouldn't have agendas," Mitchell said. "Two of the outlets that shape how this country reads the polls just agreed we're doing it right."
Inclusion in an aggregate isn't automatic. Both The New York Times and DDHQ review a pollster's methodology, disclosure practices, and track record before adding its numbers to the averages that anchor national election coverage. Getting into both trackers within the same two-week stretch — just over two months after The Honest Poll's July launch — puts the company alongside firms with decades of institutional history.
Mitchell spent five years, from 2021 to 2026, as Director of Polling at Rasmussen Reports, where he ran the firm's day-to-day survey operation, posted top-five accuracy rankings in the 2024 cycle, and built out its extensive media audience. He launched The Honest Poll on the same terms he wants the industry held to: full methodology disclosure on every release, no institutional donors steering the data, write-ups in plain English instead of jargon, and Americans first, no matter what.
"This is just the beginning," Mitchell said. "There's no shortage of people claiming to speak for the American voter. There's a real shortage of people willing to just let the voter speak. That's the gap we built this company to fill."
The Honest Poll will continue publishing national tracking polls, sponsored surveys, and video analysis on a weekly cadence, with full crosstabs and topline data released alongside every survey.
AboutThe Honest Poll
The Honest Poll is an independent polling and media company founded by Mark Mitchell, former Director of Polling at Rasmussen Reports. The company publishes national and sponsored surveys with full methodological transparency — sample composition, field dates, weighting, and margin of error disclosed on every release — combining SMS, online panel and live Interactive Voice Response (IVR) methodology. The Honest Poll is not funded by any political party, campaign, or advocacy organization.
MediaContact
Mark Mitchell
The Honest Poll
info@thehonestpoll.com
@honestpollster
