WELCOME TO THE 78TH WAPOR ANNUAL CONFERENCE
St. Louis, Missouri, USA · May 12–15, 2025
Dear Members, Colleagues, and Friends,
It is my sincere pleasure and privilege to welcome you to the 78th Annual Conference of the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR), held this year in the vibrant and historically rich city of St. Louis, Missouri, USA. It is especially meaningful that this year’s conference is held jointly with our esteemed colleagues from American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), marking an unprecedented collaboration between our two organizations and reaffirming our shared commitment to advancing the global dialogue on public opinion research.
This year’s conference theme, “The Evolving Landscape of Election Polls: Challenges, Biases, and Innovations in a Polarized World,” captures the essence of the moment we find ourselves in. As researchers, practitioners, and scholars, we are living through a transformative era. The intersection of political polarization, technological innovation, and misinformation poses profound challenges for our field—and equally profound opportunities for growth, innovation and adaptation. Many of the colleagues from our WAPOR Community have been actively involved in election polls in 2024 and 2025, which have been conducted in most of the 122 national elections in the course of both years. Through this conference, we seek not only to examine the limitations of our tools and methods but also to explore creative, interdisciplinary, and ethical solutions to ensure that public opinion research remains rigorous, inclusive, and impactful.
The conference venue—the historic St. Louis Union Station—is a fitting symbol of our journey. Once a hub of connection and discovery, it now becomes the meeting ground for scholars and professionals. We are joined by a diverse community of scholars, practitioners, and students representing many world regions and methodological perspectives. Whether your research focuses on elections, media, methodology, or the broader relationship between public opinion and democratic life, this conference offers a rich program of presentations, panels, and networking opportunities.
WAPOR’s program includes presentations and panels on a wide range of pressing topics—from innovations in computational social science and the use of artificial intelligence in polling, to examining bias in traditional methodologies and the public’s trust in survey results. We are honoured to welcome distinguished keynote speakers, including scholars whose work challenges conventional paradigms and inspires innovation across disciplines and across the world.
WAPOR’s strength lies in its global scope and its commitment to liberty, quality, inclusion and humanity in public opinion research. Whether you are a longtime member or attending for the first time, I invite you to make the most of this conference by sharing your insights, asking bold questions, and connecting with others across cultures and disciplines. In an age where public trust in institutions is fragile, our collective responsibility is to demonstrate how rigorously conducted, ethically grounded research can help to restore truth, trust and transparency in public discourse in open societies and plural democracies worldwide.
As we gather in St. Louis—on the banks of the Mississippi, a river that has long symbolized flow, connection, and transformation—I hope this conference becomes a moment not just of professional exchange, but of renewed purpose and strategic orientation in international public opinion research across the globe. Let it be a time where we remind ourselves why our work matters, and how together, we can shape the future of public opinion research to serve the global good.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who made this impressive event possible—our Conference Committee, the WAPOR Council and Secretariat, our colleagues at AAPOR, and, first and foremost, each of you attending and contributing to the success of this prestigious international conference 2025 of WAPOR. Your presence reaffirms that public opinion research remains a vital force in understanding our world, in amplifying diverse voices, and strengthening democratic processes in a period between stability and change across the globe.
May the coming days be filled with meaningful conversations, new insights, and lasting connections as well as new friendships. I wish you all a rewarding and enjoyable experience here in St. Louis. Thank you for being part of our vibrant and ever-expanding WAPOR community.
Warm regards,
Christian W Haerpfer
President of WAPOR
Professor of Political Science
University of Vienna, Austria
Director of Institute of Comparative Survey Research - ICSR