When Polls Become Political Weapons

For a price, political candidates, interest groups, and activists alike can get their hands on a powerful and far-reaching tool to spread their message: a public opinion poll.

Polls were once so costly and labor-intensive that only well-financed companies could afford to conduct them. But today, anyone with a couple hundred dollars can hire a polling company to field questions to a sampling of strangers.

Organizations can instruct pollsters to ask specific questions, phrased in a way that will yield the responses they want.

When the results are not as revealing, these organizations can still control their message by publicizing their interpretations in releases or blog posts.

Read more about how polls have become political tools.

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