Since their beginnings in the 1920's with Gallup, Roper, Harris and others, scientific polling organizations have grown dramatically in number, scope, and stature to their worldwide presence today. Like other professions dealing with public affairs, pollsters have found the Internet to be a great boon both for advertising services and for offering survey results. Professional organizations, university research centers, and data archives all use the web to enhance access to public opinion polls.
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Gallup Poll by
This work is the only complete compilation of polls taken by the Gallup Organization, the world's most reliable and widely quoted research firm. It is an invaluable tool for ascertaining the pulse of American public opinion in a certain year, as well as for documenting changing perceptions over time of crucial core issues (such as women's rights and health care). It is necessary for all social science research. More than just a collection of polls, The Gallup Poll offers in-depth commentary and analysis, placing current topics in a readable, historical context. Survey results are given in a easy-to-use form. Breakdowns by sex, age, race, level of education, and other factors enable the reader to grasp major issues quickly.
Navigating Public Opinion: Polls, Policy, and the Future of American Democracy by
Do politicians listen to the public? When? How often? Or are the views of the public manipulated and used strategically by elites? In this text, leading scholars of American politics assess and debate the impact of public opinion on policy making. Central issues include the changing relationship between opinion and policy over time, how key actors use public opinion to formulate domestic and foriegn policy and how measurment techniques might improve our understanding of the results of polls and survey research.
Political Polling in the Digital Age by
The 2008 presidential election provided a "perfect storm" for pollsters. A significant portion of the population had exchanged their landlines for cellphones, which made them harder to survey. Additionally, a potential Bradley effect -- in which white voters misrepresent their intentions of voting for or against a black candidate -- skewed predictions, and aggressive voter registration and mobilization campaigns by Barack Obama combined to challenge conventional understandings about how to measure and report public preferences. In the wake of these significant changes, Political Polling in the Digital Age, edited by Kirby Goidel, offers timely and insightful interpretations of the impact these trends will have on polling. In this groundbreaking collection, contributors place recent developments in public-opinion polling into a broader historical context, examine how to construct accurate meanings from public-opinion surveys, and analyze the future of public-opinion polling. Notable contributors include Mark Blumenthal, editor and publisher of Pollster.com; Anna Greenberg, a leading Democratic pollster; and Scott Keeter, director of survey research for the Pew Research Center. In an era of increasingly personalized and interactive communications, accurate political polling is more difficult and also more important. Political Polling in the Digital Age presents fresh perspectives and relevant tactics that demystify the variable world of opinion taking.
Researching the Public Opinion Environment by
Researching the Public Opinion Environment: Theories and Methods informs the reader on the rationale, purposes, theories, and methodologies involved in researching the public. The book is divided into four parts. Part One looks at the theories and systems relevant to opinion research. Part Two addresses the topics of monitoring and analyzing the media. Part Three describes the basics of survey research, focus groups, Delphi techniques, stakeholder assemblies and Q methodology. Part Four analyzes the impact of the media.
Bending Opinion by
From classical antiquity until the present, people and groups have taken to public spaces, now largely virtual, in order to relay their message and attempt to persuade others. And for just as long, the methods of organizing and conducting such public debate and decision making have been hotly contested. This collection of essays by distinguished international scholars presents an overview of the state of interdisciplinary scholarship on the art of rhetoric and the varied approaches and methodologies within it. Bending Opinion cites a host of relevant examples, from Barack Obama to Geert Wilders, as well as compelling case studies.
From Media Hype to Twitter Storm by
This anthology offers the first comprehensive overview of media hype, a phenomenon often dismissed as ephemeral and unimportant. Despite that reputation, media storms actually do play an important role in political issues, scandals, and crises, sometimes creating an important shift in public opinion over the course of only a few hours. This book provides an overview of theoretical, conceptual, and methodological issues related to media hype through close explorations of case studies from around the world.
News, Numbers and Public Opinion in a Data-Driven World by
From the quality of the air we breathe to the national leaders we choose, data and statistics are a pervasive feature of daily life and daily news. But how do news, numbers and public opinion interact with each other - and with what impacts on society at large? Featuring an international roster of established and emerging scholars, this book is the first comprehensive collection of research into the little understood processes underpinning the uses/misuses of statistical information in journalism and their socio-psychological and political effects. Moving beyond the hype around "data journalism," News, Numbers and Public Opinion delves into a range of more latent, fundamental questions such as: · Is it true that most citizens and journalists do not have the necessary skills and resources to critically process and assess numbers? · How do/should journalists make sense of the increasingly data-driven world? · What strategies, formats and frames do journalists use to gather and represent different types of statistical data in their stories? · What are the socio-psychological and political effects of such data gathering and representation routines, formats and frames on the way people acquire knowledge and form attitudes? · What skills and resources do journalists and publics need to deal effectively with the influx of numbers into in daily work and life - and how can newsrooms and journalism schools meet that need? The book is a must-read for not only journalists, journalism and media scholars, statisticians and data scientists but also anybody interested in the interplay between journalism, statistics and society.
Public Opinion by
Public Opinion is a comprehensive and multidisciplinary examination of public opinion in the United States. Drawing on scholarship in political science, psychology, sociology, and communications, the authors explore the nature of political and social attitudes in the United States and how these attitudes are shaped by various institutions, with an emphasis on mass media. The book also serves as a provocative starting point for the discussion of citizen moods, political participation, and voting behavior. Feature boxes and illustrations throughout help students understand all aspects of the elusive phenomenon we call public opinion. The third edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect how public opinion is studied today, and to incorporate current data and debates. The book now contains two revised and reframed theory chapters--"Group Membership and Public Opinion" and "Public Opinion and Social Process"--as well as new coverage of the influence of online and social media on public opinion, especially in issue opinions and campaigns.
Public Opinion by
The new edition of this popular textbook provides a comprehensive, accessible introduction to public opinion in the United States and describes how public opinion data are collected, how they are used, and the role they play in the U.S. political system. Bardes and Oldendick introduce students to the history of polling and explain the factors a good consumer of polls should know in order to evaluate public opinion data. Public Opinion: Measuring the American Mind is the only text to devote significant space to the history of polling, the use of polling in America today, and to explain the methods used for survey research. In addition, Bardes & Oldendick engage students by providing in-depth coverage of public opinion on issues--social welfare, gun control, death penalty, abortion, gay rights, civil rights, and foreign policy--over time and with an analysis of group differences for each subject. This lively, engaging text combines a comprehensive grounding in the nuts and bolts of the field with up-to-date, real-world examples.