Now, at about five minutes into this piece, magazine readership surveys say that I am at risk of losing you as a reader if I don't change the tempo. So I am quickly shifting to U.S.A Today format. Research says that I am now 65 percent more likely to get you to finish this piece. Research also suggests that if you finish this piece and find it compelling, you have a two percent probability of writing a letter to the editor, which, pro or con, is good for me. Seven Points about the Dark Side of Polling 1.
National polls are cheap.
For anyone groping for decision-making tools, survey research is very handy. Hence, survey research has become very, very popular. Polls are everywhere. With nationally projectable survey research coming cheap and corporate managers liking security blankets, you'd be right to think that polling is everywhere. Sitcom producers, potato-chip packagers, car makers, labor unions, newspaper cartoon syndicates, and soap sellers are all lined up with President Clinton to deliver market leadership, but they must first know where people want to be led.