• by Philip Rosenstein , October 25, 2016

SurveyMonkey announced on Tuesday the launch of its Electoral College map.

Based on real-time polling data, the survey platform offers the data to as many people as possible. In conjunction with the release, SurveyMonkey is also inaugurating a “Predict the States” sweepstakes, where users can share their predictions on social media and compete for prizes.

“The map showcases the depth and breadth of our new way of polling,” Jon Cohen, SurveyMonkey’s chief research officer and former head of polling at The Washington Post and Pew Research, told Red, White & Blog via email.

“Our platform allows everyone to produce their own election forecasts, as well as visualize some of the important trends in our political system,” he added.

Users can easily parse the real-time polling data by state and demographics, including age, race, sex and income.

The polling methodology differs from the mainstream FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics approach.

“This is not an aggregation of polls,” explains Cohen. “All the data in our map comes from SurveyMonkey state surveys, each with an identical methodological approach. Our map represents a view on the 2016 election that is based on large-scale, single-source data and is being refreshed daily.”

SurveyMonkey expects to survey about 1 million voters this cycle. “We are focused on deepening voters’ understanding of this political moment,” concludes Cohen.