Do Polls Matter

[ThomWV]

I know the value of these on-line poles as predictors but I've always felt they had value.

I think that at some level we are herd animals in a sense. We feel security in numbers, that's for sure. So by going to all of the on-line polls I can find and checking the button that I think best represents dissatisfaction with the administration it supports our party. When a reasonable person sees that their opnion on a subject is far out of wack with their neighbors I think most of them reexamine their thinking. So I click boxes daily, and I hope a lot of you do the same. They may not have any real meaning for reading the mood of the country but they may have real value as one of many tools to persuade.

So I want to thank the folks who are good enough to direct us to them as they find them. Keep it up.

Thom

[sallyseven]

1. Only poll that counts

is the one on election day. Trust me.

[YNGW]

2. Really?

When I see a poll and recognize that it's skewed out of proportion with what I know from other well-established polls are the opinions of the American people, I don't re-examine my thinking on the subject at hand. I figure it's been spammed. I would have to believe that most internet poll voters do the same.

[depakid]

3. Herd mentality is right-

Most online poll results are wildly innaccurate at best and manipulative at worst. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans have no knowledge of the basic statistical concepts or the analytic methods behind polls in general and wouldn't know whether results presented to them were "scientific" or not -much less whether the results have any actual validity within their margins of error. Nevertheless, the media and interest groups cite them with disturbing frequency to support their cases. I suppose in that sense they have some value, albeit completely BOGUS value- and I tell that to just about anyone who will listen.