Gallup Poll- The Finger on the Pulse of America

Interesting information about the Gallup Poll and I book marked for future reference.

When I am looking to form an opinion I tend to rely on many sources. I find polls the least interesting source for information but recognize that polls do influence opinions while at the same time trying to reflect opinions. I believe that am affected by polls no matter what I personally think as they are used as the basis for decision making in all facets of my life from the choices I am offered at the grocery store to the critical decisions by those in government.

When I was a home owner and active in politics I was polled frequently by not only Gallup but both major political parties. Now as an apartment dweller I find that I am mostly overlooked or at least that appears to be the case since I haven't been asked to participate in any poll or contribute my opinion by any polling service since 1995.

I got involved with the Harris Poll Online some time ago. Their polling has more to do with product opinions. It can be kind of interesting. They give you a certain amount of "points" each time that you participate, and you can redeem them for prizes. Sorta like "Green Stamps" ! So far I havn't redeemed them. Figure that if I keep entering the polls, I might accumulate enough points to get a Mercedes:

I do find it interesting though. They ask about things like auto designs, cell phone usage etc. and then you can see the results of the polls.

Well said, Joanne. I agree.

i'm saving up for that lawn furniture

Wow - I thought folks were going against the war according to the Media and Bush was going way down also. I'm so confused......
Who can you believe?

This time, I'm agreeing with Joanne.

For what it's worth, one of my more influential public school teachers let the class vote on the correct solution to an algebra problem, his point being that the majority may rule, but the majority is not always right.

That's a nice point, roger!

and that explains the govenment we get

We can expect polls to show support for the war while it's in its early stages. If things bog down or start to go badly (which may already be happening), look for that support to start slipping.

I agree with everyone here who says that the polls don't guide their viewpoint. If they did, it would mean not having a personal viewpoint at all.

On a lighter note, perhaps we could have a poll at the top of this thread: "Are you influenced by polls?" Then I could look at the results and make up my mind...

D'artagnan- Wonderful idea- Why didn't I think of that myself?

Half of my current job is polls.
I lead a small team that designs public opinion (non commercial) polls and interprets those and other people's polls.

Polls are important for decision making. This does not mean that decisions must be made according to majority opinion. It means that they may help decision makers into choosing best times, best arguments and type of public exposure of the arguments and the persons.

For this to happen, a poll must be well made.
It must have a good sample, finely worded, yet undertandable, sentences, and the questions must follow a clear path, so one answer influences the least the next ones.
This is not an easy task, and often the wording of the questions, their order, or an epidermic interpretation lead to wrong conclusions.

It is exceptional that a single poll gets a good picture of reality.
Usually they're just a little bit out of focus.
To get a good picture of moving reality, you have to look at several polls, from different sources, and make series about them. This way you can sort out the "abnormal" ones and figure out why it is so (a bad sample, unorthodox wording, different questions, or maybe because it was done on a peculiar moment).

i know that the people calling for poll questions are doing they're job so i answer the questions, but in my own way. depending on what kind of mood i'm in, i answer phone poll questions randomly. for instance if they say answer from 1 being best to 10 worst, i just start with 1 at the first question and continue on to 2, 3 ,4 etc until the questions end. for some reason the pollsters never catch on.

People who do the asking are not pollsters, but interviewers. Their job is to read the questionarie, write down the answers and "interfere" the minimum.

People who respond like pueo are accounted for as "disturbance sound"; they're quite easy to catch -and discard- and amount to 3-5% of respondents. A higher percentage would mean that the questionaire is badly put. A lower one would mean that not enough filtering has been done.

Ya'll need a category for people who never votwe in polls-- EVER. Then and only then would I participate! hee hee! MMMHA ha ha !!

Lenny Bruce- I think that this would cover it: