NAME_______Brent Hardy___________________________________________

Internet assignment 11: Public Opinion Polls: Gallup Poll

1. Identify three of Gallup's most recent polls.

“Are You Feeling A Lot of Stress At Work?”

“Hispanic Votes Favor Democrats in Congressional Election”

“Americans Get Plenty of Health News on TV, but Tend Not to Trust It”

2. Methodology: For each of the three above, identify the date (s), the number surveyed, confidence level (if found) and margin of error. Conclude whether or not this is a valid poll.

Stress at Work: Conducted Sept. 5-8, 2002, and Sept. 23-26, 2002; 576 adults surveyed; with 95% confidence; margin of sampling error is ±4%; Yes, it is a valid poll

Hispanic Votes:  “Results for the national sample are based on telephone interviews with 1,502 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Oct. 3-6, 2002, including 806 likely voters. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. The margin of error for the likely voter sample is ±4 percentage points.”

“Results for the Hispanic respondents are based on telephone interviews with 275 Hispanics, aged 18 and older, conducted Oct. 3-8, 2002. For results based on the total sample of Hispanics, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±7 percentage points.”

Yes, it is a valid poll, yet not as valid as the previous poll due to margin of error

Health News: Conducted September 5-8, 2002; Surveyed 1,004 adults; 95 percent confidence; maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3; Yes, it is a valid poll

3. Examine the data on Presidential approval ratings. What is the latest approval rating for Bush, give date?

67% Oct 3-6

4. What if any trend(s) do you see? What does this tell you about Bush?

Bush has one of the highest approval ratings on average as any U.S. President to date.  While his approval rate is lower now than it has been, it shows that the U.S. public seems to approve of presidents that serve admirably during times of national disaster.

5. ESSAY: Are surveys of this type (approval ratings) useful to the public? Why/Why not?

        I am of mixed feelings about whether our not approval ratings are useful to the public.  Sometimes citizens rely too much on what they read or hear on TV, which may or may not be falsified.  While Gallup is a very respected source, others may not be so conscientious in their survey methods.  People can believe approval ratings that are skewed, and this could lead them to change their political leanings because the rest of the public seemingly doesn’t approve of an elected official.  Also, I think people should make up their own mind about what a leader is doing, and whether or not they approve.  It seems to me that sometimes people might just look at an approval rating and decide whether or not they like a leader before an election.  However, I also think approval ratings are good things.  They let the country see what other people think about a leader, and not just the popular opinion in their particular area.  This leads to a more cosmopolitan outlook, letting one see the country’s opinion as a whole instead of a collection of centers for individual opinions.