Reviving a partnership dating back years, the University of Connecticut and The Hartford Courant are announcing the launch of a new public opinion poll that will measure the national and state moods on critical issues of the day.

UConn and The Courant will release the first results of the partnership starting this week, with data gauging national public opinion on the presidential election, as well as Connecticut residents’ thoughts on the closely watched U.S. Senate race here. Next week, a new set of data will explore in detail Americans’ experiences with an economy still struggling to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression.

“This will be a tremendously valuable resource for the public and for the academic community, not just here in Connecticut but across the country,” said poll director Jennifer Dineen, lecturer in public policy at the University of Connecticut. “UConn and The Courant make a natural partnership for this kind of unbiased research into public opinion, bringing the best of scholarship and journalism to the table.”

Results and information about the poll will be available at a dedicated website, http://poll.uconn.edu, as well as http://courant.com and across CT1 Media’s properties.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for two great institutions in Connecticut to collaborate on a project that explores critical issues at the heart of the daily conversation,” said Rich Graziano, publisher, president, & CEO of The Hartford Courant.

UConn and The Courant had previously collaborated on regular polls for many years, and the launch of the new initiative both builds on that tradition and recognizes the importance of a reliable, research-based opinion poll being conducted on a regular basis.

“This is a great way to pick up where we left off, and to highlight the deep tradition of survey research at UConn, from the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research to the University’s renowned graduate education program,” Dineen said.

The September poll results are expected to be the first of a series aimed at exploring the national and Connecticut moods not only on politics, but on other critical issues at the forefront of American life. By regularly producing an opinion poll rooted in unbiased research, UConn and The Courant hope not only to provide a resource for scholars and students, but to help clarify the national conversation and play a productive role in contemporary discourse.

“Our mission is and always has been to connect with readers on the issues and stories they want to know more about,” said Andrew Julien, Courant editor. “This poll will give us another vehicle to help accomplish that mission.”