Presidential polls and the news media
By: edited by Paul J. Lavrakas, Michael W. Traugott, and Peter V. Miller.
Contributors: Lavrakas, Paul J.; Traugott, Michael W.; Miller, Peter V.
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Boulder
Language: eng
Number of pages: 279
Subjects: Public opinion -- United States; Public opinion polls; Presidents -- United States -- Election; Mass media -- Political aspects -- United States; Press and politics -- United States
Description: Most news media are "data rich but analysis poor" when it comes to election polling. Since election polls clearly have the power to influence campaigns and election postmortems, it is important that "spin" not take precedence over significance in the reporting of poll results. In this volume, experts in the media and in academe challenge the conventional approaches that most news media take in their poll-based campaign coverage.

The book reports new research findings on news coverage of recent presidential elections and provides a myriad of examples of how journalists and news media executives can improve their analysis of poll data, thereby better serving our political processes.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-275) and index.