These ABC polls aren't credible, are they?

Question

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Decision2008/popup?id=3436820

Answer 1

For all the Ron Paul supporters who went and voted, yes it is accurate. The main problem with this poll is that Republicans don't watch ABC or any or the other major networks.

Answer 2

ghahahaha... internet polls = meaningless.

Ron Paul has a ton of these, but they all mean nothing because his internet troll fanbase all encourage one another to vote on that poll. Moreover, it's very much unscientific, because it doesn't represent a random sample of people being surveyed. It only shows the small percentage of people who actually go onto the ABC news website. But the problem then again with that poll, is that the Ron Paul trolls take the URL, post it on forums like Yahoo! Answers and tell their friends to vote for their guy.

Answer 3

I would have to look at their methodology and sample (or see if it was done by a reputable firm) but it looks fine for an off the cuff response.
They probably did a quick exit poll or an on-line poll which doesn't have a whole lot of credibility in either case, but polls on debates are rarely accurate measurement of popularity.

Answer 4

I'm not a believer in polls because they usually are not scientifically accurate. Unless they use the scientific method, which most do not, I tend to blow them off.

I think polls are used by the media and politicians to influence people's votes. Period.

Don't pay any attention to them. Listen to the candidates and make up your own mind. Don't let the media tell you who's ahead, etc. When you listen to that, you tend to follow who they say, because people like to perceive of themselves as savvy winners. So they follow the people the "polls" say are ahead, instead of using their own head to make up their mind. If you have a question you don't hear in one of the debates, go to the candidate's website and submit the question. You'll usually get an answer. But I find that most questions usually come up in the debates.