Quote:
Originally Posted by mariners_fever
Just to give ReRun some credit, it has been documented that polling close to voting day can have effects.
A little different than actual polling, but early results from Connecticut (or Massachusetts, I can't fully remember) are often said to have affected western votes in the 1960 Presidential Election. Obscure, yes, but something fun to chew on.
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It's definitely the case that polling affects vote intention, and even as I am a poll junkie I do recognize this issue. This is why people get so exercised about polls that they feel are inaccurate: they worry that through the so-called bandwagon effect, these polls become a self-fulfilling prophecy. See the "unskewed" crowd in the US for a good example.
To be honest, I am sympathetic to Rerun's point. But I don't see how you can lawfully curtail something like that. People WANT polls, and they especially want them (as SebC pointed out) when they are hoping to maximize the value of their own vote, which is a reasonable thing to want. As long as people want them, someone will be willing to produce them.
But there absolutely is a bandwagon effect. Subconsciously, people do not want to vote for a losing candidate.