Chapter 22 - Opinion and Election Polls

Abstract

Publisher Summary Public opinion polls are widely used to learn about the political attitudes, voting, and other behavior of individuals, by asking questions about opinions, activities, and individuals' personal characteristics. Responses to these questions are then counted, statistically analyzed, and interpreted. Historically, academicians and government researchers in the United States engaged in opinion polling have called themselves “survey researchers,” many with interests in psychologically oriented attitude research. There is also a separate and more visible group of “pollsters,” originally involved in commercial research and in journalism, whose poll results on political and social matters are reported widely in the news media. This chapter describes the aspects of opinion and election polls focusing largely on the United States but providing some international comparisons and discussions of similar aspects and uses of polling. It reviews the public and private uses of opinion and election polling and summarizes the general methodological issues in polling that require attention in public opinion research.