What is a straw poll?
The straw polls from our early history were efforts to sample opinions. “Pollsters” might have asked people at meetings or other gatherings about their opinion, and the results of the “straw polls” were then presented. This was often done at political meetings. But these efforts were not scientific. Q [Patricia]: What is the future of exit polling following its failures in 2000 and 2004? A: One of my colleagues once said that having one exit pollster was worse than having none. The exit pollsters have made recommendations about how things can be improved given the problems that occurred in 2000 and 2004 [U.S. presidential elections]. Conducting an exit poll is like mounting an army. The five major [television] networks, working together with the Associated Press, field the major national exit poll in the United States. The Los Angeles Times conducts a separate national exit poll and one in California. Exit polls will continue. Q [Jill] What’s a random sample? What is a scientific sampl
