Great question. It got us looking back on all the polls we've run and how participatory our readers are, depending on the topic.
We’ve run two polls per month since September 5, 2007, so that’s nine-plus years and right around 230 polls.
The first poll, about the craziest thing you’ve ever done in Las Vegas, garnered 1,942 votes. The second, on outdoor-dining venues, received 1,797. The third, concerning the sexiest cocktail-waitress uniforms, hit just under 3,000. The three established a benchmark in the low thousands, which has been the norm ever since.
We probably couldn’t have predicted it, but the least popular polls have concerned Las Vegas dining. Surveys on non-casino breakfasts, Chinese, oyster bars, dive bars, and Bloody Marys were all in the hundreds, while barbecue, Mexican, sandwiches, prime rib, Sunday brunches, gourmet burgers, desserts, and hot dogs barely squeaked into the thousands. In fact, our first survey on pizza received the fewest responses of all the nine years’ worth of polls: 357 (though our second survey did better at 715, though it was still one of the lowest).
On the other hand, predictably, buffets generated responses in the 4000s. And our poll on favorite types of food garnered just under 6,500, one of the larger responses.
Popular polls have been measured by more than 4,000 votes, such as other Nevada gambling destinations (4,000), naughtiest thing done in Vegas (4,075), our first poll on resort fees (4,290), preferred airlines (4,651), favorite LVA.com feature (4,668), and smoking ban (4,962).
But we’d say the realm of huge responses starts at around 8,000 votes, usually when multiple votes are allowed. Our poll on the best places to play the games garnered 8,113; trip budget came in at 8,116; the types of gambling products you like 8,182; our second poll on resort fees 10,658; our third on resort fees, by which time everyone was really exercised over them 13,846; which coupons you used in 2014 15,931; and tipping habits 18,779.
Interestingly and gratifyingly, our internal polls about LVA, coupons, and LasVegasAdvisor.com received among the greatest number of votes. The one on information and features you didn’t know you could find on LasVegasAdvisor.com registered 13,652, which started us thinking long and hard about a new website. Indeed, the biggest response of all time came with our survey on the new website: 24,632! That got us going on it in a big way.
And believe it or not (!), we’re right now putting the finishing touches on the new site and will be beta-testing it very soon. Which is why tomorrow’s readers' survey will concern your preferences when it comes to these bi-weekly polls. Let us know how you feel by voting tomorrow!
