http://www.sjmercury.com/whatsnew/068585.htm

[Matthew Hunt <mph@pobox.com>]

Poll shows people favor polls

BY PAMA MITCHELL

Cox News Service

In case you haven't noticed, it's high season for the polling
business. With the election less than three weeks away, the news seems
dominated by results of the latest polls about who's ahead in national
and local political campaigns. But even though it may seem like there
are just too many of the things, most people have a favorable opinion
of public opinion polls -- according to (what else?) recent polls.

More than seven of 10 Georgians think public opinion polls generally
are a good thing for the country, according to an Atlanta
Journal-Constitution poll of 956 Georgia adults taken this month. A
national poll conducted by Gallup in April found an even more
favorable attitude toward polls nationwide, with 87 percent saying
polls are a good thing for the country.

Of course, the only people offering quantifiable opinions about the
polls are themselves responding to a poll. What we don't know is what
those who don't agree to answer poll questions think of polls.

David Moore of the Gallup Organization concedes that people who refuse
to participate ``are almost assuredly less positive toward polls than
those who do participate,'' but adds that it's not possible to measure
precisely that difference. But he does think that despite this
limitation, asking poll respondents ``provides some useful insights
into public opinion about polls.''

For instance, the Gallup poll also asked respondents whether the
nation would be better or worse off if its leaders ``followed the
views of public opinion polls more closely,'' and found that 73
percent said we'd be better off. Further, the 87 percent who said that
polls are generally a good thing for the country was up from 76
percent who said the same thing in a 1985 Gallup poll.

Among Georgians, younger people have a more favorable opinion of polls
than do older folks, with 81 percent of respondents younger than 45
saying polls are a good thing for the country. That compares with 67
percent of Georgians ages 45-64 and just 43 percent of those 65 and
older who think polls are a generally positive influence. Republicans
sampled in the Journal-Constitution's poll were less likely than
either Democrats or Independents to think that polls are good for the
country, and men had a more skeptical view of polls than did women.

Historical trends suggest that more Americans now pay attention to
polls. In 1944, 28 percent told Gallup that they at least occasionally
``follow the results of any public opinion poll in any newspaper or
magazine.'' When Gallup repeated the same question in 1985, 41 percent
reported occasionally or regularly following polls, and in their April
1996 survey, 55 percent said so.

The April Gallup poll also asked people how accurate they think most
polls are. Noting that many polling organizations make predictions of
elections, the survey asked respondents whether they think most of
those polls are ``pretty nearly right most of the time, or do you
think their record is not very good?'' Sixty-five percent thought
pre-election polls are generally accurate.

(Pama Mitchell is polling director for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.)

Q: In general, would you say polls of the opinion of the public are a
good thing or a bad thing for our country?

Georgia U.S.

Good thing 72% 87%

Bad thing 15% 8%

No opinion 13% 5%

Source: Journal-Constitution poll of 956 Georgia adults conducted
Sept. 30-Oct. 2 by the Marketing Workshop Inc., and a poll by the
Gallup Organization of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted April 25-28. Both
polls have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage
points.


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