In Defense Of Public Opinion Polling

by Kenneth F. Warren

Book Overview

What do we really know about public opinion polls? Are they as flawed as conventional wisdom implies? How accurate are the polls, really? How can we spot a bad poll? Why do politicians and journalists have a love-hate relationship with polls? How do polls help us interpret history? Why has public opinion polling become so popular in other countries?In the 2000 national elections 100 million was spent on campaign polling alone. A 5 billion industry...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813340292
• ISBN13: 9780813340296
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A cogent, insightful analysis, to understanding elections.

A former professor of mine, at St. Louis University (in St. Louis Missouri) Dr. Warren goes a long way in explaining and expressing the need for public opinion polls; particularly as they relate to the political process (especially in the U.S.). People and politicians either love them, hate them, or have no opinion (sometimes) about them. Dr. Warren makes a strong case that those politicians who ignore them do so at their own risk. One case he particularly makes well is the public reaction to the Clinton-Lewinsky matter. The history, methods, and use, and of course, misuse, of polls is also explored. While I may not agree with Dr. Warren's assessment that politicians should follow polls, nonetheless, they are important to a candidate's ability to be elected, remain in office, and even how the candidate's legacy is determined. Dr. Warren also shows how polls have been used outside the U.S., e.g., in Britain, to elect Tony Blair, Britain's prime minister; Ehud Barak, in Israel, and others. Whether one agrees or disagrees with Dr. Warren's analysis of polls in politics, this book is well worth a look, as they relate to the 2004 election (though the book stops at 2000; which is the final chapter, as the polls applied to the disasterous election that gave us the current administration, God Help Us).