Uses+and+Impacts+of+Polling

Impacts and Uses of Polling Editor: Taylor Bond Writers: Julia Levine and Trevi Yavorek

=Uses and Impacts of Polling=

Polling is prevalent in modern day politics, with most every politician utilizing and implementing polls to serve their needs. Politicians may even have a team of pollsters at their right hand in order to keep a steady grip and knowledge on polls. Former President Bill Clinton was most famous for his excessive use of polling, going as far as polling to determine optimal vacations spots and pets for his family, that could yield the highest popularity among voters. The succeeding president, Former President George W. Bush, was certainly less flagrant in his usage of polls, but used them nonetheless to determine how to create a favorable outlook on his unfavorable policies. Both of these politicians were aware of the advantages that effectively employing polls could have. Both of the presidents were well aware of the multitude of uses and impacts that polling can offer. Polling is no longer simply an objective __#|questionnaire__ used to determine popular opinion; its purposes and affects have a broader spectrum of usage. =Uses of Polling=

Polling has various different uses. Polls can be used to analyze and study voting trends and behavior, such as the National Election Studies based out of the University of Michigan. The objectives of these polls is to impartially review respondents answers to help determine political ideas and attitudes, and their behavior, which aids in helping researchers to attempt to understand the logistics of why people vote. The National Election Studies poll (NES) __#|surveys__ respondents before and after important elections and often both polls are composed of the same questions.

On top of determining voting trends and why people __#|vote__, polls can help figure out the public opinion of the group of people being polled. __Public opinion__ is what the public thinks about a particular issue or set of issues at any point in time. Politicians have utilized __public opinion polls,__ interviews or surveys with samples of citizens that are used to estimate the feelings and beliefs of the entire population, to gather an idea of the views and interests of the population. Using these polls, leaders in the government can have an idea of public opinion. Though the elected officials can use these types of polls to base their policies off of, it is not necessarily a requirement. However, unpopular policies that do not please the public will harm the politicians chances of becoming reelected if he seeks it. Early public opinion research started as early as 1824 and continues on to this day.

Public opinion polls, on top of being used to discover how the American public feels on certain issues, can be also be used to predict winners of elections. Polls are continuously taken to measure a candidate's favor-ability and attempt to calculate the outcome the elections. Various polling institutions take part in this, and have taken part in it through the history of the United States. Literary Digest and the Gallup poll are both two examples of organizations that attempt to use polls to guess the __election]]__'s results. To correctly predict these types of polls, however, multiple aspects of the polls must be accurate and objective. To predict results that are concrete, impartial questions must be used, along with a proper representation of the population included in the __sample__, which is a subset of the whole population selected to be questioned for the purposes of prediction or gauging opinion. Polls must be formatted properly in order to be used correctly. An unbiased, neutral word choice must be utilized along with a randomly selected sample that still incorporates the demographics of the sample, as randomness is the most important factor of a poll. Additionally, things like __margin of error,__ a measure of the accuracy of a public opinion poll, must be taken into account in order for a poll to be used effectively.

Another usage of polls is to influence public opinion on politicians and topics by creating a bias in wording. Public opinion can be shifted and molded by their peer's views and the manner in which the question is asked. This can be done on purpose to create results that are more favorable to one politician or group or to simply create a bias against one candidate. In the example of __push polls,__ polls taken for the purpose of providing information on an opponent that would lead respondents to vote against the candidate, false questions are asked the respondents that put one candidate in an unfavorable light. An example of a question on a push poll might be "If you knew that Candidate A favored slaughtering puppies, would you still vote for him?". This kind of question makes Candidate A seem like a horrible person, and would make someone feel less comfortable voting for them. Therefore, these types of polls can be used to influence public opinion. Additionally, polls can purposely sample a more favorable population, creating inaccurate results that flatter one specific group or politician over another. The structure and type of words can also be changed to produce more favorable results, showing that polls can be create a bias in wording and fabricate results that might not necessarily reflect public opinion.

Another use of polling is to create a favorable image with polls. This was partly discussed in the previous paragraph, as different polls favor different politicians. Depending on the wording and the source, polls yield different results. Polls can be used as statistics for a politician, thought the poll itself may not always be accurate. A politician, using polls, can claim that his or her policy is effective or has the support of the general population. Former President [|Bill Clinton]utilized polls incessantly in order to __#|continue__ to be popular in the public's eyes, and reviewed polls to tailor his policies to coincide with public opinion. ( Add a little here)

=Impacts of Polling=

Although polling does have many uses, it also has many impacts too. Polling plays a significant role, both in politics and the average American's everyday lives. One very important impact that polling can have is the affects it can bring in changing policies and legislature. Polls can provide a measure of public opinion to politicians in office. By analyzing polls, politicians can determine how the public feels on a certain issue, and address that specific issue in office. Politicians, either in a desire to accurately represent the public's opinions or to try and garner favorability so they can win reelection the next cycle, often incorporate the results of public opinion polls into the laws they pass and the decisions they make. However, simply using polls to decide how to vote on certain issues is problematic for politicians, as public opinion polls are not able to accurately determine intensity, and may have a bias affiliated with it. Still, polling does have an impact on the policies put into place that affect our daily lives. Therefore, one of the greatest impacts that polling can have is on policy.

Another important impact due to polling is its effects on public opinion directly. Polls don't just record public opinion, they also can impact it. Polls can impact how a singular voting believes about a certain topic. If a poll says 66% of Americans believe that the war should be continued, the individual voter may start to feel that if the majority of the public feels that way, then perhaps they are right. The pressure that peers exert, and conforming with society, can mold people's opinions on topics, impacting how they respond to polls and how they shape their opinions. The appearance and data presented in polls can therefore impact how people feel about certain issues due to the malleability of people's opinions in regards to their peer's. This is especially true for matters that the public does not have knowledge or a strong opinion on. If they see that other people majorly agree on a topic, they will assume that the majority knows best and agree with that, showcasing how polls can directly impact public opinion. People are very easily influenced by their surroundings. Especially when considering young, and or new voters, the polls could be very inaccurate. The people most susceptible to influence are children by their parents. 18 year olds are going to vote based on what their parents believe, thus the polling results will be the same thing but for many people.

Additionally, polling can impact how a candidate is [|viewed]during a race. Polls can impact many factors pertaining to elections. Like mentioned above, if the public sees polls depicting a candidate favorably, they may be inclined to vote for that candidate if they do not know any better.This is called the bandwagon effect. The opposite also occurs. When there is an underdog in the race, voters may feel bad since that candidate appears to be losing the race. Out of sympathy for the underdog, some voters may decide to back the candidate who is losing. Additionally, if people see their choice of candidate doing well in the polls, they may opt not to vote as they believe their candidate will prove victorious anyways. Conversely, similar to the underdog affect, people who see their favored politician polling poorly may be motivated to go out and vote for them in support, showing how polls can impact voting and elections.

In conclusion, it is evident that the use of polling is very beneficial but not always accurate. Polling analyzes the voters behaviors, however, if the poll itself is biased or unclear, the results are not as accurate as they were hoped to be. Polling is a necessary process, but is not always completely reliable. Additionally, polls impact voters because people stick with the norm. If many people feel one way, others will be influenced and ultimately do the same. This constant cycle of people voting because others did that first, causes for further falsity in the results. However, the results that are released are taken into consideration by the politicians and they govern based on what the public says. So, polls are at their greatest when they are accurate.

Vocabulary
Public opinion- what the public thinks about a particular issue or set of issues at any point in time

Public opinion polls- interviews or surveys with samples of citizens that are used to estimate the feelings and beliefs of the entire population

Sample-a subset of the whole population selected to be questioned for the purposes of prediction or gauging opinion

Push polls- polls taken for the purpose of providing information on an opponent that would lead respondents to vote against the candidate

Margin of error- a measure of the accuracy of a public opinion poll

Review Questions
1. Describe the difference between how former Presidents' Bush and Clinton utilized polls. 2. What is one use of a poll? 3. Can a poll be used to influence public opinion? 4. Can a poll be used to measure public opinion? 5. What is the purpose of a push poll? 6. What is one major impact of polls? 7. What is an institution that analyzes polls(specific name)? 8. Can polls impact the policies put into place by politicians? 9. T/F A sample is a type of poll in which people are called on the telephone. 10. T/F People are not affected by their peers in any way in regards to their political opinions when viewing polls

Work Cited:
"Are Opinion Polls Useful?" //: Do Polls Form Public Opinion?// N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2012. . "The Clinton Years." //PBS//. PBS, n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2012. .Hopkins, Dan. "Polling Biases and Their Potential Impacts." //- The Monkey Cage//. N.p., 26 Sept. 2012. Web. 01 Nov. 2012. ."Int. Journal of Public Opinion Research." //THE IMPACT OF POLLING ON PUBLIC OPINION: RECONCILING FOUCAULT, HABERMAS, AND BOURDIEU//. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2012. .Newport, Frank. "Gallup.Com - Polling Matters by Frank Newport." //Gallup.Com - Polling Matters by Frank Newport//. Gallup, 31 Oct. 2012. Web. 01 Nov. 2012. .