A veteran pollster reveals how and why polls misinform policy makers and distort elections. With a new afterword by the author David W. Moore pulls back the curtain on a polling industry that serves sound bites above all-and on the sometimes disastrous consequences. In this highly critical book, he reveals illusory public support on issues ranging from war and torture to creationism. Breaking down the manipulated horse-race numbers of our most recent presidential campaign season, Moore shows how pre-election polls concealed rampant voter indecision. He ends with ways to make pollsters deliver on their promise to monitor the pulse of democracy, including recognizing the growing importance of cell phones and Internet polling. Quotes "You will never regard political polls the same after reading David W. Moore's devastating inside account of their severe limitations and misapplications. This book should be required reading for journalists, political junkies, students, scholars, and citizens." -Robert W. McChesney, author of The Political Economy of Media "In this succinct and damning critique of the pitfalls of public opinion reporting, Moore . . . argues that today's polls report the whims rather than the will of the people. ... Keen and witty throughout." -Publishers Weekly
With a new afterword by the author
Drawing on over a decade's experience at the Gallup Poll and a distinguished academic career in survey research, David W. Moore—praised as a "scholarly crusader" by the New York Times—reveals that pollsters don't report public opinion, they manufacture it. In this highly critical book, he describes the questionable tactics pollsters use to create poll-driven news stories-including force-feeding respondents, slanting the wording of questions, and ignoring public ignorance on even the most arcane issues. More than proof that the numbers do lie, The Opinion Makers clearly and convincingly spells out how urgent it is that we make polls deliver on their promise to monitor, not manipulate, the pulse of democracy.
