Reading Public Opinion

Questions to ask when reading a poll

Polling can tell us something useful about public opinion—but understanding how a poll was conducted matters.

Before drawing conclusions from survey results, consider:

Who conducted or sponsored the survey?
Look for the organization responsible for the research and whether another organization commissioned or paid for it.

Who was surveyed?
A survey of U.S. adults is different from one limited to registered voters, likely voters, members of a particular organization, or members of an online survey panel.

How were participants selected?
Different polling organizations use different methods to build representative samples.

How large was the sample?
Sample size matters, but a larger sample does not automatically fix problems with who was included or how participants were selected.

When was the survey conducted?
Public opinion can shift in response to elections, major events, economic conditions, crises, and changes in public debate.

How were the questions worded?
Wording, context, question order, and available answer choices can all affect responses.

Can you see the actual questions and methodology?
Look for information about the sample, field dates, question wording, weighting, and research methods.

Do other reliable sources find something similar?
Patterns across multiple surveys usually tell us more than one dramatic poll result.

And perhaps one more question:

What did the survey make you wonder about your own answer?

Sometimes the value of a good question is not only discovering how other people responded. It is noticing what our own response reveals.

A poll can be useful without being the whole story.

Before trusting a poll, look at more than the headline.

Check:

• who was surveyed
• how many people were included
• how participants were selected
• how the question was worded
• when the survey was conducted
• the margin of error
• who conducted or funded the poll
• whether the headline claims more than the results actually show

A strong poll can help reveal patterns in public opinion. A weak or poorly interpreted poll can create a misleading impression.

Useful habit:
Before sharing or reacting to a poll, ask: What exactly does this result support?

Return to: Public Opinion & Civic Data