Kickstarter Update #2 - some news!

As of this morning, the Kickstarter project for the writing of an eBook on political public opinion polling in Canada during 2013 has reached just over 50% and has gathered the support of 112 backers! Thanks so much to everyone who has already pledged. We still have 18 days to go in this 30 day funding drive, so we are on our way to just surpassing our goal.

Check out the Kickstarter project page for more information, and last week's update for a chapter-by-chapter breakdown.

On to the news for this week. Firstly, Political public opinion polling in Canada, 2013 is not much of a title. It isn't a bad sub-title though!

The full title of the eBook will be Tapping into the Pulse: Political public opinion polling in Canada, 2013. Hopefully, this will be just the first annual edition of Tapping into the Pulse!

I'm also pleased to announce that Paul Adams has generously agreed to write the foreword for Tapping into the Pulse!

Paul Adams is currently an associate professor at Carleton University, in the journalism faculty of the university's School of Journalism and Communication. Professor Adams recently gave me a quick tour of the faculty's new building, and they have some mightily impressive facilities.

Professor Adams has also worked as a journalist for the CBC and The Globe and Mail, where he played an important role in polling coverage at the time (the resources they had back then would make your mind boggle). He also worked with EKOS before moving into the academic world, has written a few books, including the most recent, Power Trap, and writes a great column for iPolitics. Thanks Paul!

One last thing I wanted to highlight was the reward levels of $75 and $100, a level at which a few of you have already pledged. At the $75 level, you can claim a riding that I will profile going back to 1867. I've enjoyed doing these and I look forward to having the incentive to do a few more! The ridings already claimed are Kingston and the Islands and Kitchener-Waterloo. I'm particularly looking forward to profiling Kingston and the Islands, a historic riding (it was represented once upon a time by our first Prime Minister) and home to my Alma mater! Kitchener-Waterloo, or at least a predecessor riding, was also represented by a famous Prime Minister for a time: Mackenzie King.

At the $100 level, you have the option of a riding history or an analysis topic of your choice. It hasn't been locked-in yet, but one backer is looking to see an in-depth analysis of party support by gender and age.

These analyses and riding profiles, which will be posted on this site before the 2015 federal election, will also only get done if our funding goal is reached. Hopefully, that can act as an extra incentive! And some of you who have pledged at these levels still need to let me know what topics you'd like me to cover.

I'm still open to suggestions for new rewards that could be offered at the $20, $30, and $50 levels. Let me know your thoughts! And let's keep the ball rolling on this project - if you have already pledged or can't afford to, please help spread the word on Facebook and Twitter. Every little bit helps!