One exit
poll conducted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies showed that Bush's support among African Americans in Ohio hit 16 percent--five points higher than the national average.
"In Democratic districts, which also happened to be predominantly African American, there were
polls that opened late, like 10 a.m.
Despite all these cautions, however, properly conducted
polls are still the best way for us to find out what people are thinking at a particular moment in time, and in a democracy, that's important to know.
Four years ago, when the economy was strong, the country wasn't at war, and both presidential candidates ran as moderates, just 43 percent of adults told an early April Gallup
poll that they had been thinking about the election "quite a lot" This April, when the issues seem much bigger and the differences between the candidates much starker, Gallup found that 61 percent of adults said they had been giving "quite a lot" of thought to the election.
Even though
polls have had the value of providing "a reliable means to ascertain what concerns the mass citizenry," they have hindered democracy by undermining the "deliberative nature of public opinion" (p.
In his 1995 memoir, Call the Briefing, former presidential Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater told of a plan to concoct a
poll to create a supposed need to dump Vice President Dan Quayle for the 1992 Bush re-election effort.
China rated highly on another
poll that asked, "Will China eventually surpass the United States as the number one paper producing and consuming nation?" Slightly more than 73% said yes, 23% said no, and 4% were not sure.
Weissberg argues that most
polls are systematically biased toward manufacturing a vox populi that clamors for an evergrowing welfare state.
One out of seven African Americans who self-identified as Democrats in 2000 changed their political affiliation in 2002, according to the National Opinion
Poll conducted last September and October by the Washington, D.C.-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
Two
poll workers testified that they had been instructed to apply "qualification" procedures very strictly and, if there was any doubt, to deny the person the chance to vote.
But Fienberg gives two other explanations for burgeoning
polls: One, "people want to know what everyone else thinks," and two, journalists use them as a "crutch."
Schneider, an expert on
polls, says the results "aren't consistent with other
polls.
Meanwhile, security and other arrangements for the upcoming
polls have been given final touches.
According to the principle of 'Garbage In, Garbage Out,' questioning the fairness of opinion
polls is a necessary process for a responsible search for accuracy and truth
Summary: They are found to be more accurate when it comes to forecasting state assembly
polls