POLLS

"A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought." -Warren Buffet

We can easily be manipulated by polls. At the same time we can easily manipulate the polls. Sure there are more legitimate polls like Gallup etc, but other polls get tossed around too lightly.

One of these polls is the straw poll. A straw poll is taken when a small party group, like county GOP or interest groups, hold an event inviting the candidates telling them a poll will be taken at the event. The objective for the candidate becomes to bring as many people with them to the event as they can so they can win the straw poll. The winner of the poll can then send out a press release saying, "I won the poll."What a surprise you brought the most people to the event. Politicians use these to make it look like they have tons of support when really the poll isn't real and the whole thing is a delusion. Messed up right?

Another type of poll that politicians toss around a lot our online polls or polls that their campaign conducted. These polls are very easily manipulated. I'm sure many of you have tried to manipulate polls on websites that ask you who you think will win a football game or something of that nature. Yet politicians use these to make it look like they are ahead.

Learning about these polls made me feel manipulated. Its not to say a campaign should disregard the polls(this one doesn't), but voters should make sure they understand where the poll is coming from.