From the Publisher: How can a public opinion poll of only 1,500 Americans accurately represent the entire population? Asher demystifies this and other polling issues with clear descriptions, colorful anecdotes and such up-to-date examples as polls concerning doctor-assisted suicide and NATO expansion. He explains how the wording and ordering of the survey questions, and the interviewer's techniques profoundly affect the response the pollster gets. Public opinion polls are pervasive, influencing discourse and decision-making on practically every issue of public life. Yet they are poorly understood and often misused. Asher explores how polls are constructed, conducted, and interpreted-and what role they have in influencing the very attitudes they measure. He discusses the use of polls in campaign politics, media coverage of public opinion, and he guides readers to make their own judgments.