Polling and the Public

by Asher, Herbert B.

• ISBN13: 9781568025827
• ISBN10: 1568025823
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-03-01
• Publisher: Cq Pr

Author Biography

Herbert Asher, professor emeritus of political science at Ohio State University, serves as counselor to the university president

Table of Contents

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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