Know whether you are looking for a baseline poll or tracking poll . A baseline poll is a more indepth research poll that can help create a strategy for a campaign. A tracking poll generally provides nightly or three times weekly results to see if the media effort is moving the numbers. They are dramatically different in how they are written and how their cost is structured and its important to understand that. Try to poll from actual voters if you have access to that type of list .
Many pollsters use random digit dial and swear that it s the most effective way.
Random digit dial is the process of having a machine randomly dialing numbers from a particular area and then screening the person who answers with questions to determine if they are an actual voter. But polling from a list of known voters weeds out people who may lie about their voting history and can help to keep your cost down by increasing your survey incidence. Those who choose not to utilize it risk allowing their opponent to gain a valuable advantage.