Washington Post Polling – Bias and Credibility

Washington Post Polling is rated Least biased with Very High factual reporting by Media Bias Fact Check.

History

The Washington Post is a national newspaper based in Washington, D.C. For many years, the newspaper conducted national polling jointly with ABC News, with survey research previously handled by Langer Research Associates.

Beginning in 2025, The Washington Post began partnering with Ipsos to conduct national public opinion surveys. Some surveys continued to include ABC News, while others were published solely under the Washington Post-Ipsos name. Current Washington Post-Ipsos surveys are conducted through Ipsos’ probability-based KnowledgePanel.

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Funded by / Ownership

Washington Post Polling is funded by The Washington Post, which is owned by Nash Holdings, a private company controlled by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Ipsos, a publicly traded international market research company headquartered in Paris, France, conducts the fieldwork, sampling, data processing, and weighting for the surveys. The Washington Post generates revenue through subscriptions, advertising, licensing, and related services.

Analysis / Bias

Washington Post Polling publishes national surveys covering elections, presidential approval, public policy, the economy, immigration, and other political issues. Since 2025, its national surveys have been conducted in partnership with Ipsos. The surveys generally provide questionnaires, topline results, sampling details, weighting procedures, field dates, and margins of error.

The surveys are conducted online through the probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel, whose participants are recruited using address-based sampling designed to represent the United States adult population. Ipsos supplies internet access and devices when necessary to reduce coverage bias among households that lack reliable internet service.

The Washington Post is rated Left-Center biased by Media Bias Fact Check based on news reporting and editorial positions that moderately favor the political left. However, its polling reports generally use neutral language and publish supporting methodological information. Therefore, the editorial component for the polling operation is assessed at −1.

Polling bias is assessed using Silver Bulletin’s mean-reverted bias metric. For Washington Post Polling, the mean-reverted polling bias is −0.90, indicating a slight Democratic lean. Under MBFC’s calibrated polling bias scale, a mean bias between −0.6 and −1.0 corresponds to a polling bias score of −2. Polling bias accounts for 70% of the final bias score, while editorial bias accounts for 30%.

Applying MBFC’s weighted formula:

(−2 × 0.70) + (−1 × 0.30) = −1.7

Based on MBFC’s bias classification scale, a final score of −1.7 places Washington Post Polling in the Least Biased category with a left-leaning direction.

Factual reporting is rated Very High based on a Silver Bulletin grade of A+, indicating excellent predictive accuracy and methodological performance.

Failed Fact Checks

• None to date

Overall, we rate Washington Post Polling as Least Biased based on polling that minimally favors Democratic candidates and transparent survey methodology. We also rate them as Very High Factual based on an A+ rating in predictive polling, which is the highest possible rating. Washington Post national polling has been conducted in partnership with Ipsos since 2025. (D. Van Zandt 02/02/2024) Updated (07/30/2026)

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/polling/

Last Updated on July 30, 2026 by Media Bias Fact Check

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