Storms start to move out of Minnesota, continue for western Wisconsin

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

This is part of “Can You Believe It?” a series of stories and resources focused on giving you the tools to fight disinformation heading into Election 2020. You can find 

Political polls attempt to gauge public opinion on certain issues and/or candidates running for election. They can help give voters and those working on campaigns a sense of what is important to the general public as well as specific demographics. They can also signal how well a candidate is connecting to voters. The content and sample sizes can vary widely, but it’s one way voters can express their thoughts on a large scale and let candidates know what they want.

Political polls are often run or funded by campaigns, research firms or media companies. But anyone with access to a survey tool can host one on the internet and present their findings.

Major media outlets and many survey research firms looking to preserve their credibility have a strong incentive for investing in solid surveys. Still, some pollsters and media outlets have other motives, like promoting a particular candidate or idea.

A survey’s line of questioning and results can be manipulated to present a trend that isn’t really there, prompt an audience to only answer a certain way or only address the thoughts and needs of a specific demographic.

Before you put too much stock into the results of a poll, especially one you find online, 

Read more about poll credibility from APM Research Labs.

Essential tools to fight disinformation

Craig Helmstetter

Author

Sara Porter

Polls have long been a standard-issue tool of election year prognostication. But can you trust them? Here are some tips on becoming a savvy poll-reader.

How to tell if a political poll is credible

Go Deeper.

Like this?