The Pros And Cons Of Public Opinion Polls

Public opinion polls are really common today. It is true that the public opinion polls are a kind of inductive generalization. As inductive generalizations, some arguments are strong while some others are weak. It cannot be denied that the arguments have to be strong so that the conclusion is cogent. According to Russell Renka, a professor of political science at Southeast Missouri State University, in order for the polls to be strong, “the questions must be worded in a clear and neutral fashion”, “ the subjects in the sample must be randomly selected”, and “the survey or poll must be sufficiently large that the built-in sampling error is reasonably small”(Renka 2). In this assignment, I will analyze the strong poll first, and then I will analyze the weak poll later. For the strong poll, the property in the question, which was also the question that was asked to the respondents, is how American people are

Do you support or oppose this ruling” (Law and Civil Rights)? There are three parties attending in this roll, an each party has three options: support, oppose, and unsure. According to the textbook, “no matter what a reputable public survey is about, is usually involves between 1,000 and 1,500 in the sample” (Moore & Parker 354). In this poll, there were 1017 adults in the sample, so the sample size was large enough. The sample population was taken from the American population who are 18 or above. The methodology used in this poll was “random-digit dialing”(CNN). According to the CNN official website, “a computer selects completely at random the phone numbers that our interviewers called. This method allows [us] to reach people with unlisted phone numbers and people who have moved recently as well as those who are listed in the phone book” (CNN). This way of reaching respondents guarantees the random