All polling numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, of course, because maybe everyone has changed their mind on subject A, B, or C between the time the question was asked and the point at which the results were tabulated.
Polls are snapshots, after all.
Here is one that shows how much a picture can change, or be distorted, in the polling process.
Remember the early days after the 2004 presidential election?
Based on exit polling results, people concluded “moral values” had ignited a fervor that pushed President Bush into office, riding the crest of a wave of conservative Christian votes.
That had a lot to do with the way the question was asked of people who had just voted, where it fit on the list of options and so on. Also, it’s hard to imagine anyone who would not respond positively if they were asked whether morality motivated their vote.
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After everyone had calmed down, cooler heads noted that morality didn’t play much of a role in decision-making in 2004 at all, that the most important motivator in voting, among many, was inherent support for a wartime president.
A week ago, The New York Times and CBS News polled 1,155 adults across the nation and asked them “What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?”
One would think that morality would play a big role in that response.
It didn’t.
In fact, it barely cracked the poll’s 3-point margin of error.
Only 4 percent cited “moral values and family values” as the most important problems. Even fewer, 3 percent, said “religious values.”
The economy and jobs were cited as the most important problem by 19 percent of those who responded, the biggest group outside of the “other” category, which claimed by far the most responses at 34 percent.
The war in Iraq was cited as the most important problem by just 13 percent of the people polled.
Running down the list, terrorism was cited by 6 percent, poverty and homelessness by 4 percent, health care by 4 percent, the budget deficit by 3 percent and immigration by 3 percent. Seven percent of the people who responded said they weren’t sure what the most important problem was.