We are excited to announce the Call for Abstracts for the 78th Annual WAPOR Conference, which will take place May 12-15, 2025, in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, in conjunction with the 80th Annual AAPOR Conference. This joint event is a leading forum for discussing advancements in public opinion and survey research, providing an opportunity for networking, learning about the latest research trends, and engaging with diverse experts from across the globe. The venue for the conjoined AAPOR and WAPOR conferences is the St. Louis Union Station. 

The call for abstracts is open now, and we encourage submissions aligned with this year’s special conference theme, as well as other topics related to public opinion and survey research. The theme for 2025 reflects the complex and evolving landscape of election polls, focusing on the challenges and innovations that have emerged in a world increasingly shaped by political polarization, misinformation, and technological change. We welcome submissions on a variety of relevant topics, and look forward to your contributions to what promises to be a rich and insightful event.

The year of 2024 has been branded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as the biggest election year in human history. Half of the world’s population – some 3.7 billion people – are eligible to vote in 72 countries, so UNDP calls this the “super year for elections”.[1] If you would follow the count of the Wikipedia, then the list of countries will go up to more than 100,[2] including eight of the world’s ten most populous nations. A few days before the arrival of 2024, Time published an article and asserted that “2024 is not just an election year. It’s perhaps the election year… [because] more voters than ever in history will head to the polls…” It called 2024 “the ultimate election year”.[3]

To us in WAPOR, this “super year for elections” has two very important meanings – it is our own election year for choosing our next-next President, and it is also an important year in human history when we as public opinion researchers have a lot to contribute.

Let me quote (extensively) from our website which explains the importance of our role, especially when we meet again in St Louis seven months later:

In 2024, nearly half of the world’s population is voting in national elections in an era of rising global tensions. Many countries are facing economic threats fueled by geopolitical turmoil as well as military conflicts… democracy and the freedoms to conduct and publish opinion polls are threatened. As political landscapes shift, pre-election polls gain more and more importance as seismographs of political developments as well as forecasts for elections.

Polling thus plays a critical role by helping politicians gauge public opinion and enabling voters to understand which candidates or policies are gaining or losing popularity… For our community of world-wide public opinion researchers, it is more than ever important to enable high-quality polls because they provide accurate insights into voter sentiment and the likely outcome of elections. Reliable polls, as a unique voice of the people, help ensure informed decision-making, enable effective campaign strategies, and uphold the integrity of the democratic process by highlighting shifts in public opinion. In an era of increasing political polarization and misinformation, robust polling is essential for reflecting true voter intentions and safeguarding the fairness and transparency of elections.

For WAPOR 2025 it is thus time to reflect on all sorts of polls and surveys which are conducted over the long run or precisely in this unique year for democracy in 2024. We aim for exploring the crucial role that opinion polls play in elections, examining both their value and their limitations. Through discussions on the technical challenges of polling, and their broader impact on political campaigns and voter behavior, we aim to foster a deeper understanding of the various approaches to opinion polling in a global context. […]

Nonresponse is a critical issue for data quality in panel surveys. Many researchers have demonstrated the potential of machine learning (ML) models to predict nonresponse, enabling survey managers to intervene preemptively with low-propensity participants. We present a review of ML techniques for nonresponse propensity modeling in panel surveys, providing evidence that standard supervised learning models, using demographics and nonresponse history as predictors, consistently perform well in predicting nonresponse across various panel studies. Finally, we share early results from an experimental study to demonstrate how ML-based adaptive design might work in practice.

WAPOR Latin America, the regional chapter of the World Association for Public Opinion Research which brings together specialists in research on public opinion, communication and political behavior, will meet in the beautiful city of Florianópolis, southern Brazil, on occasion of its XI Congress, which will be an exclusively onsite event. During three days, from April 28 to 30, 2025, scholars, consultants, pollsters, professionals from private market and public opinion research agencies and specialists in the areas of social and political communication who focus in Latin America will meet at the premises of UFSC (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina) for insightful exchanges of ideas, knowledge and experiences.

Dear WAPOR members,

WAPOR invites expressions of interest to expand the following our Committees:

• Finance Committee: 1 member

• Membership Committee: 2 members

The period of service shall be 2024, with the possibility to prolong for another year.

To learn more about the activities of the WAPOR committees, please, consult the WAPOR Constitution: https://wapor.org/about-wapor/constitution/ 

To learn about the committee chairs and other members, please, check the WAPOR website: https://wapor.org/about-wapor/committees/

WAPOR Committees are important bodies that both facilitate and guide the development of the Association. We very much look forward to welcoming new members aboard the WAPOR Committees!

The World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) is seeking new National Representatives for the 2025-2026 term. National Representatives serve as the primary liaison between WAPOR and their respective countries, promoting WAPOR’s mission, fostering collaboration, and providing updates on public opinion research activities within their region. The list of countries open for nominations and self-nominations for the 2025-2026 term is included below.

Countries 

Afghanistan, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Canada, Congo, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Finland, Gabon, Guatemala, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malta, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Palestine, Panama, Philippines, Qatar, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Trinidad, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

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