How To Become A Pollster: What It Is and Career Path

What is a pollster and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a pollster. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.92 an hour? That's $41,438 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePollsterUS Average

Salary

3.2

Avg. Salary $41,438

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.1

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.10%

Asian 5.58%

Black or African American 6.70%

Hispanic or Latino 14.70%

Unknown 6.47%

White 65.45%

Gender

female 52.17%

male 47.83%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress level

6.1

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.0

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a pollster

Explore pollster education requirements

Most common pollster degrees

Bachelor's

73.9 %

High School Diploma

14.8 %

Master's

4.5 %

Start to develop specific pollster skills

Skills	Percentages
Conduct Surveys	44.30%
Telephone Surveys	29.14%
Phone Interviews	26.57%

Complete relevant pollster training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New pollsters learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a pollster based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real pollster resumes.

Research pollster duties and responsibilities

Modify standard Nielsen script as required to achieve customer cooperation.
Experience in working with difficult-to-survey populations such as physicians, Medicaid populations, retirees, and people suffering from chronic disease conditions
Use influencing skills and techniques to overcome objections and maximize potential Nielsen family participation.

Prepare your pollster resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your pollster resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a pollster resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable pollster resume templates

Build a professional pollster resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your pollster resume.