Polling and the Public: What Every Citizen Should Know

by Herbert B. Asher

As you and your students know, public opinion polls are pervasive. And given that interest groups, political parties, candidates, and office holders almost habitually use polls to convince--and sometimes even manipulate--citizens to support their views, their influence over discourse and decision-making should not be underestimated. In an effort to create more informed consumers of public opinion polls, this slim book explains why the wording and ordering of survey questions matter, what determines a representative sample, and how polling methods affect responses. Covering the fundamentals briefly and briskly, Asher also examines how the media report polls, the use of polls in election campaigns, and tricky art of interpreting polls both effectively and responsibly.

Genres: Political Science, Politics, Nonfiction, Read For School

215 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1987

Reviews

[Petty Lisbon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting for an academic book. While none of it is brand new information, especially for people interested in the subject already, it provides plenty of examples from the last 50 years. Future editions will be interesting after the 2016 US Presidential Election.

[Russ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the third edition which was published in 1995. It explains the scientific methodology behind polling. This was one of the better textbooks in my political science courses. It was short for a textbook at less than 200 pages, but more useful than most. Concise & informative. The sections on wording of questions and interviewing techniques would probably useful to anybody doing surveys either for research or for business purposes.

[Ericka Clou · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is actually one of my graduate school books, so I figured I would review it before getting rid of it. Since it's 11 years old now, it's probably better to read more recent editions of the book. The main points of the book are probably the same, but newer editions might have more recent examples and perhaps review more advanced poll-taking technology and analysis.

The main points are not that enlightening. Polls can be useful or they can be misleading either by accident or on purpose. It might give the public a way to participate beyond elections, or it can manipulate the public.

Furthermore, some people don't care about the issues they are being polled about, and these "nonattitudes" might be misconstrued by the pollsters. Some people might care very deeply about the issue, but be undecided. Pollsters can mislead through not only question wording, but also question wording, and this is more difficult to detect.

The book also explains sampling error and types of sampling in some detail. This is useful mainly if you're planning on conducting your own poll. A 4% sampling error is usually adequate, but obviously not very determinative when 52% of respondents feel one way (really means 48-56% of respondents feel that way). The error of subsets of the sample might actually be much higher. The method of interviewing affects the results, the timing might affect the results, the release of the poll results might influence the public's actions.

Mostly, I enjoyed the political cartoons in the book.