Polls - do they prove anything?

Question

I'm tired of hearing Democrats using polls to justify their views. " Well recents polls indicate that Americans disapprove of the war in Iraq" . now this - http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/agctbsdj83rc

It is very opinionated. Nothing is backed up. No one has asked for my input in the survey. So what good is it? Is Yahoo running out of facts when writing about politics? Is Yahoo getting lazy?

Answer 1

polls are biased, especially internet polls since most internet users are young kids who dont kno anything so theyre easily persuaded by the liberal media so they take the poll and vote for whoever the liberal media tells them to vote for, and in this case its obama. and the ppl who take the polls might not even be able to vote since theyre so young. polls dont prove anything

Answer 2

Well, it is a Bloomberg report for starters, so don't blame Yahoo too much.

Polls are snapshots. They tell you what the public in general is thinking at a moment in time. That's all. They won't tell you what the electorate will be like in November.

That said, we have a representative form of government. We can read the mail or answer the phone to see how the people out there think. We also can use polls. It's a tool toward that end. I'd bet your viewpoint is somewhere in that poll, even if it may not be a majority.

OK, so do we do what's popular or what's right? And I'm not talking specifically about the current election. You have to strike a balance. Anwar Sadar did what he thought was right in Egypt in regard to Israel, and paid the ultimate price for it. And that's the problem of leadership -- knowing when to use your own judgment, and knowing to keep your constituents happy.

Answer 3

Yahoo is liberally biased. here are the polls - http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/

yahoo only published stories about the Newsweek and LA times polls  

On top of that the latest story claimed a 15 point lead,  but it actually 12.