Polling and the Public : What Every Citizen Should Know,9781604266061

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Polling and the Public : What Every Citizen Should Know

by Asher, Herbert

Edition:

8th

ISBN13:

9781604266061

ISBN10:

1604266066

Format:

Paperback

Pub. Date:

4/15/2011

Publisher(s):

Cq Pr

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Summary

Asher's central objective-to help students become savvy consumers of polls-has only grown in importance as polling data have become more central to public and civic discourse. His trusted and brief guide offers solid grounding on polls: how the media cover them, their use in campaigns and elections, and their interpretation. Methodological aspects of polling are explained simply, in a non-technical fashion. Bringing the book fully up to date with new data and scholarship, this edition covers polls in a fragmented media environment and nontraditional approaches to polling, as well as the use of age cohorts to trace public opinion trends over time.

Author Biography

Herbert Asher is professor emeritus of political science at The Ohio State University. He has written numerous articles and books on legislative politics, electoral politics, and political methodology, including American Labor Unions in the Electoral Arena, with Eric S. Heberlig, Randall B. Ripley, and Karen Snyder (2001); Presidential Elections and American Politics, Fifth Edition (1992); Theory-Building and Data Analysis in the Social Sciences, coedited with Herbert F. Weisberg, John H. Kessel, and W. Phillips Shively (1984); and Causal Modeling, revised edition (1983).

Preface	p. xi
Polling and the Public	p. 1
The Importance of Polls	p. 2
The Pervasiveness of Polls	p. 4
Commissioned Polls	p. 6
FRUGging, SUGging, and Pseudopolls	p. 8
The Citizen as a Consumer of Polls	p. 18
Citizens' Views of Polls	p. 19
Polling and Democracy	p. 26
Exercises	p. 35
The Problem of Nonattitudes	p. 37
An Example of Nonattitudes	p. 40
The Use of Screening Questions	p. 41
Nonattitudes and the Middle Position in Survey Questions	p. 47
Response Instability and Nonattitudes	p. 51
Implications for Democracy and Public Policy	p. 55
Conclusion	p. 58
Exercises	p. 60
Wording and Context of Questions	p. 63
Question Wording	p. 65
Question Order and Context	p. 81
Conclusion	p. 88
Exercises	p. 89
Sampling Techniques	p. 91
Nonprobability Sampling	p. 92
Sampling Designs	p. 93
Sample Size and Sampling Error	p. 103
Total versus Actual Sample Size	p. 106
Response Rates	p. 107
Weighting the Sample	p. 112
Conclusion	p. 115
Exercises	p. 116
Interviewing and Data Collection Procedures	p. 117
Methods of Collecting Polling Information	p. 118
Interviewer Effects in Public Opinion Polling	p. 123
Internet Polling	p. 129
Conclusion	p. 135
Exercises	p. 136
The Media and the Polls	p. 137
Standards for Reporting Results	p. 138
Substantive Interpretation of Polls	p. 146
Media, Polls, and the News Reporting Emphasis	p. 155
Conclusion	p. 159
Exercises	p. 161
Polls and Elections	p. 163
Sponsors of Election Polls	p. 163
Types of Election Polls	p. 164
Uses of Polls by Candidates	p. 181
Polls in the Presidential Selection Process	p. 184
When and Why Election Predictions Are Wrong	p. 189
How Preelection Polls Affect Voters	p. 200
Conclusion	p. 202
Exercises	p. 202
Analyzing and Interpreting Polls	p. 205
Choosing Items to Analyze	p. 206
Examining Trends with Polling Data	p. 221
Examining Subsets of Respondents	p. 225
Interpreting Poll Results	p. 229
When Polls Conflict: Some Final Thoughts	p. 234
Exercises	p. 236
Polling and Democracy	p. 237
How to Evaluate Polls: A Summary	p. 238
Polls and Their Effect on the Political System	p. 241
Conclusion	p. 250
Exercise	p. 251
Web Sites	p. 253
References	p. 257
Index	p. 279
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