Preface | p. vii |
Polling and the Public | p. 1 |
The Importance of Polls | p. 2 |
The Pervasiveness of Polls | p. 3 |
Commissioned Polls | p. 5 |
The Citizen as a Consumer of Polls | p. 14 |
Citizens' Views of Polls | p. 15 |
Polling and Democracy | p. 20 |
The Problem of Nonattitudes | p. 25 |
An Example of Nonattitudes | p. 27 |
The Use of Screening Questions | p. 28 |
Nonattitudes and the Middle Position in Survey Questions | p. 35 |
Response Instability and Nonattitudes | p. 38 |
Conclusion | p. 42 |
Wording and Context of Questions | p. 44 |
Question Wording | p. 46 |
Question Order and Context | p. 56 |
Conclusion | p. 61 |
Sampling Techniques | p. 62 |
Sampling Designs | p. 63 |
Sample Size | p. 70 |
Total versus Actual Sample Size | p. 75 |
Response Rates | p. 76 |
Weighting the Sample | p. 78 |
Conclusion | p. 81 |
Interviewing and Data Collection Procedures | p. 82 |
Methods of Collecting Polling Information | p. 83 |
Interviewer Effects in Public Opinion Polling | p. 87 |
Internet Polling | p. 92 |
Conclusion | p. 94 |
The Media and the Polls | p. 95 |
Standards for Reporting Results | p. 96 |
Substantive Interpretation of Polls | p. 103 |
Media, Polls, and the News Reporting Emphasis | p. 109 |
Conclusion | p. 113 |
Polls and Elections | p. 116 |
Sponsors of Election Polls | p. 116 |
Types of Election Polls | p. 117 |
Uses of Polls by Candidates | p. 132 |
Polls in the Presidential Selection Process | p. 134 |
When and Why Election Predictions Are Wrong | p. 139 |
How Preelection Polls Affect Voters | p. 147 |
Conclusion | p. 149 |
Analyzing and Interpreting Polls | p. 150 |
Choosing Items to Analyze | p. 151 |
Examining Trends with Polling Data | p. 163 |
Examining Subsets of Respondents | p. 165 |
Interpreting Poll Results | p. 173 |
When Polls Conflict: A Concluding Example | p. 176 |
Polling and Democracy | p. 179 |
How to Evaluate Polls: A Summary | p. 180 |
Polls and Their Effect on the Political System | p. 183 |
Conclusion | p. 190 |
References | p. 191 |
Web Sites | p. 206 |
Index | p. 207 |
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