Politicians hire them to help with campaigns. Consultants will use polling to discover what moves a politician should make to assure election or re-election. Herbst considered this a threat to democracy, rather then a representation of the public opinion. According to Herbst's research the general public feels that polls are accurate and they show little distrust of pollsters or fear of data manipulation. But when journalists were asked about polls and the election, over half said that polling could be disruptive, mentioning how it interfered in the electoral process of 1984.
People involved with media believe polls effect public opinion.
They encourage the minority to remain quiet for fear of isolation or ridicule. Herbst touched on another aspect of public opinion- crowd size at gatherings. In the 1800s crowd size could be used to determine who would be elected, even as president. As time progressed and straw polls and surveys developed crowd estimates became a tool of journalists and politicians to show support of an issue or candidate. The problem was and still is that it is hard to determine exact crowd size.