Frequently Asked Questions

Who is included in the survey?

Each version of the State and Local Politics Survey is intended to include different sorts of people, all of whom play important roles in state and local democracy: state legislators, city councilors and mayors, state legislative and local government staff, voters, and local journalists.

The 2026 State Legislators Sample of the State and Local Politics Survey includes legislators from all 50 states, who were recruited via emails sent to publicly available email addresses and (in some cases) written mail sent to their legislative offices.

How long does the survey take?

All versions of the State and Local Politics Survey are designed to be as brief as possible while still accomplishing their research goals. The 2026 State Legislators Sample of the survey is designed to take about 10 minutes, though the length will vary for different respondents depending on how quickly they move through the survey and the speed of their internet connection. Respondents can leave the survey at any time and return to where they left off by using the link included in the email invitation to participate.

How is the survey being administered?

The survey is administered on Qualtrics, an industry standard tool used for academic and business surveys. Prospective respondents were invited to participate via email with a link to the online survey. The survey research is overseen by the University of Texas at Austin Institutional Review Board. Any questions about the administration of the study can be directed to Michael Auslen (mauslen@austin.utexas.edu).

Who will see my answers?

All of your responses are kept confidential so that only the researcher and those responsible for oversight of academic research have access to individual participants’ data, as well as their decision of whether to participate or not. Aggregate results and anonymized portions of written responses may be made available to other scholars or used in peer-reviewed journals and books at academic presses, but no information that could identify an individual respondent will ever be made public.

How will the results be used?

The results of the survey are used for academic research, intended for publication in peer-reviewed academic journals and books published by academic presses. As results are published, they will be shared on this website so that participants can see how the information is being used.

How can I learn more about the survey?

If you have any further questions, please contact the principal investigator (PI) of the study, Michael Auslen at mauslen@austin.utexas.edu.