Polls and Public Opinion
Com 359 – Public Affairs Reporting
Fall 2005 • Purdue University
How are polls used?


As a tool for the government or an
organization to determine public opinion
As a source of information for
individuals


Is the economy good or bad?
Is the war in Iraq going well, or not?
Why are polls important?

They are used as a decision-making
instrument that allow people to:

Compare their views with those of others

Evaluate what’s going on in the world

Make decisions that may affect their
business and personal lives
How do polls vary?

Scientific polling

Attention to sampling procedures


Careful attention to survey design


Relies on random sample
Particularly question wording
Non-scientific

Self-selection



Only people with some interest in the issue respond
Think Cosmopolitan survey or the J&C’s online poll
Non-random sample

Going door-to-door at 2 p.m. on a week day
Types of Polls

Commissioned

Goal is to assess opinion on a particular topic




Response to a perceived need for accurate information
Sometimes tied to decision-making
Often expensive, sometimes extensive
Goals are to be scientific and objective

Examples: Local survey; Child Care

Media example: Bush support slips
Types of Polls

Pseudo

Voluntary participation


Sometimes people even pay to do so
American Idol

Mass-mailed postcards, polls in magazines or
online

May contain loaded questions that steer responses

Examples: Message board
Types of Polls

Push

An effort to push opinion from one viewpoint to another

Generally a telephone poll undertaken near end of election

Seems like a real poll, but questions are posed in way that
provides negative information about an opposing candidate



Do you value safer streets in our community?
Are you opposed to drunken driving in our community?
How do you feel about the fact that candidate X was arrested
for DUI five years ago?
Reporting on Polls
What you need to know:



Who sponsored the survey?
When was it conducted (anything happen since
then?)?
What population was sampled?


How were responses collected?




How big is the sample? Is it representative?
Surveys, personal interviews, person-on-the-street, selfselection
Scientific surveys generally rely on random sampling
How were questions worded?
Margin of error
Reporting on Polls

Tip: A legitimate survey will often come
along with information that tells you:




More about the polling organization;
More about the sponsor organization;
More about the survey, including question
wording and the complete data set.
Example: PIPA
Before reporting a poll story…

Did you:

Do enough backgrounding?




Did you seek out similar, previous studies, polls on same
subject for perspective?
Talk to experts who could interpret results, not
just the poll/study conductor?
Is it free of technical jargon, are terms defined?
Not overstate significance?

A big complaint of researchers!