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Or are they just a way to try to sway public opinion through a following the mob sort of psychological tactic? More of them are wrong than right in the past two national election cycles.
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Poll data is useful as evidence, but that is it. More often than not, polls are generally correct. Just dont rely on them absolutely.
Reputable polls try to sample a random portion of the population (typically a few thousand people or less) and then extrapolate that data to the rest of the country. Since they are randomly sampling, any result is technically possible. But the idea is that because it is random, you are getting an accurate microcosm of the country on a given issue.
Which is true. So polls are likely to be correct in general, but you never know since it is random. If you do a poll on slavery (for example) it is mathematically possible to get 1000 pro-slavery people in a random poll, even if it is extremely unlikely. The poll would show that America is pro-slavery, and the poll would be wrong.
For that reason, whenever I quote polls I try to quote several at once. An isolated poll is better than nothing, but still not proof of anything. 4 or 5 independent polls that say the same thing however, are likely to be correct.
So I accept polls as evidence to support an argument. Just not conclusive proof of an argument.