public opinion

public opinion

the attitude and beliefs of individuals on political issues, candidates, and institutions.

polling

the prices of collecting date, by conducting surveys and studies, to measure what the public believes.

approval rating

measure of public support for a political, institution, or policy. measured typically by a percentage

focus group

small group of people brought tigether for a conversation on a certain issue/ topic

random sampling

the process of choosing people from the overall population to partake in a survey or study tagt is aimless or unpredictable

representative sampling

the process of choosing people to partake in a survey or study that reflects the demographics of the overall population

benchmark polls

surveys taken early in a campaign to measure initial support

tracking polls

surveys used to measure the changes in opinions about a candidate or politician overtime

exit polls

surveys taken outside of a polling place to make predictions about election results and analyze why americans may voting a certain way

opinion polls

measure public attitudes on specific issues

margin of error

how much results may differ from the true population value, 3% is typical

push polls

type of poll designed to influence public opinion rather than measure it, often by using biased or misleading questions

question wording

biased or confusing wording can affect the results of a survey or poll

question order

the way the questions are arranged can affect the results of the survey or poll

biased samples

a group of poll respondents that does not accurately represent the larger population being studied, leading to unreliable results

reliability

survey is consistent

validity

the survey is accurate

horse-race journalism

refers to media coverage that focuses on who is winning or losing in an election, based on polling data and campaign momentum, rather than on candidates’ policy positions or qualifications