Political Science Ph.D. Alumni, Ken Goldstein (Ph.D. 1996) with ABC News and Charles Franklin (Ph.D. 1985) with Marquette University Law School, place second and third on 538's pollster ratings!

The 538's pollster ratings, grade each polling organization based on its historical accuracy and methodological transparency.

Ken Goldstein is a professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco and Faculty Director of the USF in DC program.

Goldstein is one of the country's premier experts on the use and impact of political advertising. He has authored or co-authored four books, and scores of refereed journal articles and book chapters. These publications on political advertising, voter turnout, survey methodology, presidential elections, Israeli politics, and news coverage have appeared in top line political science journals and major university presses as well as in refereed law and medical journals.

Goldstein has also consulted for the ABC News elections unit as a member of their election night decision team. He has worked on network election night coverage in every U.S. federal election since 1988. He was co-founder and co-director of the Big Ten Battleground Poll—a three-wave study of political attitudes and voting patterns in each of the eight Midwest states that comprise the Big Ten as well as a national survey.

Nationally recognized government scholar and pollster Charles Franklin has been director of the Marquette Law School Poll since its inception in 2012 and became a full-time member of the faculty in 2013.

Franklin led the Law School Poll during the highly scrutinized 2012 election cycle, establishing Marquette as the definitive source for information concerning public opinion in Wisconsin. Under Franklin's direction as a visiting professor at Marquette, the poll became the largest independent polling project in state history. It accurately captured voter attitudes before every major election in 2012, including the gubernatorial recall, U.S. Senate and presidential races. Since joining Marquette as a professor of law and public policy in August 2013, Franklin has used the poll to continue tracking political races of interest to voters and explore additional public policy issues.