Opinion Poll

(noun)

An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a "poll," is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence intervals.

Related Terms

Examples of Opinion Poll in the following topics:

  • Types of Polls

    • The main types of polls are: opinion, benchmark, bushfire, entrance, exit, deliberative opinion, tracking, and the straw poll.
    • An opinion poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample.
    • The possibility that the prospective voter might change his or her mind after the poll is very small compared to that of an opinion poll; therefore, the margin of error of an entrance poll is expected to be lower than that of an opinion poll.
    • Like all opinion polls, exit polls by nature do include a margin of error.
    • The deliberative opinion poll is a form of opinion poll that incorporates the principles of deliberative democracy.

  • Early Public Opinion Research and Polling

    • The first known example of an opinion poll was an 1824 local straw poll by The Harrisburg Pennsylvanian for the Jackson Adams race.
    • The first known example of an opinion poll was a local straw poll conducted by The Harrisburg Pennsylvanian in 1824, showing Andrew Jackson leading John Quincy Adams by 335 votes to 169 in the contest for the United States Presidency.
    • Louis Harris had been in the field of public opinion since 1947 when he joined the Elmo Roper firm, then later became partner.
    • By the 1950s, various types of polling had spread to most democracies.
    • Identify the historical origins of public opinion research in the United States

  • The Gallup Poll

    • The Gallup Poll is a public opinion poll that conducts surveys in 140 countries around the world.
    • Originally founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became famous for its public opinion polls, which were conducted in the United States and other countries.
    • He wished to objectively determine the opinions held by the people.
    • The Gallup Poll is the division of Gallup that regularly conducts public opinion polls in more than 140 countries around the world.
    • Gallup Polls are often referenced in the mass media as a reliable and objective audience measurement of public opinion.

  • A Closer Look at the Gallup Poll

    • The Gallup Poll is an opinion poll that uses probability samples to try to accurately represent the attitudes and beliefs of a population.
    • The Gallup Poll is the division of Gallup, Inc. that regularly conducts public opinion polls in more than 140 countries around the world.
    • It is very well known when it comes to presidential election polls and is often referenced in the mass media as a reliable and objective audience measurement of public opinion.
    • The Gallup Poll is an opinion poll that uses probability sampling.
    • These people can still vote, but their opinions would not be taken into account in the polls.

  • Constructing Public Opinion Surveys

    • An opinion poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample, and is designed to represent the opinions of a population.
    • An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a "poll," is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample .
    • Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence intervals.
    • Some prospective respondents may simply be less likely to respond to polls generally, not interested in the subject, or may be unreachable for many reasons.
    • For example, polls or surveys that are conducted by calling a random sample of publicly available telephone numbers will not include the responses of people with unlisted telephone numbers, cell phone numbers, who are unable to answer the phone, and who do not answer calls from unknown/unfamiliar telephone numbers.

  • The Gallup Organization

    • George Gallup founded the American Institute of Public Opinion, the precursor of The Gallup Organization, in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1935.
    • He wished to objectively determine the opinions held by the general public.
    • The Gallup Poll is the division of Gallup that regularly conducts public opinion polls in more than 140 countries around the world.
    • Gallup Polls are often referenced in the mass media as a reliable and objective measurement of public opinion.
    • Locate the historical origins and significance of the Gallup Organization for public opinion research in the United States

  • The Literary Digest Poll

    • Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, Public Opinion and Current Opinion.
    • Beginning with early issues, the emphasis of The Literary Digest was on opinion articles and an analysis of news events.
    • Although it had polled ten million individuals (of whom about 2.4 million responded, an astronomical total for any opinion poll), it had surveyed firstly its own readers, a group with disposable incomes well above the national average of the time, shown in part by their ability still to afford a magazine subscription during the depths of the Great Depression, and then two other readily available lists: that of registered automobile owners and that of telephone users.
    • George Gallup's American Institute of Public Opinion achieved national recognition by correctly predicting the result of the 1936 election and by also correctly predicting the quite different results of the Literary Digest poll to within about 1%, using a smaller sample size of 50,000.
    • This debacle led to a considerable refinement of public opinion polling techniques and later came to be regarded as ushering in the era of modern scientific public opinion research.

  • Defining Public Opinion

    • Public opinion or political opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population.
    • Public opinion or Political opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population.
    • Public opinion can also be defined as the complex collection of opinions of many different people and the sum of all their views.
    • So, public opinion polling cannot measure the public.
    • Governments have increasingly found surveys to be useful tools for guiding their public policies through voter polls as seen in .

  • Telephone Surveys

    • A telephone survey is a type of opinion poll used by researchers.
    • In certain polls, the interviewer or interviewee (or both) may wish to remain anonymous, which can be achieved if the poll is conducted over the phone by a third party.
    • As some people do not answer calls from strangers, or may refuse to answer the poll, poll samples are not always representative samples from a population due to what is known as non-response bias.
    • However, if those who do not answer have different opinions, then the results have bias.
    • In terms of election polls, studies suggest that bias effects are small, but each polling firm has its own techniques for adjusting weights to minimize selection bias.

  • The Year the Polls Elected Dewey

    • Virtually every prediction (with or without public opinion polls) indicated that Truman would be defeated by Dewey.
    • Let's take a closer look at the polls.
    • The Gallup, Roper, and Crossley polls all predicted a Dewey win.
    • This would cause significant error in the results of the poll.
    • Pollsters, in reality, were left to poll whomever they chose.