Polls have always been useful in manipulating public opinion. Now they've become the one of the most common ways in which so-called news is reported. News organization which scream about an election's outcome on the day before the election are not trying to inform but to mis-inform.
The public should demand that organizations which assert that they provide news coverage and which use polls should always provide something of the methodology used to complete the polls.
Two prominent cable and online providers of news content are MSNBC and CNN. On each of their websites (as of 10:38 a.m., 11-1-2010), polling data loomed large in the top-of-the-page headlines.
msnbc front page with pre-result poll
cnn front page with pre-result poll
I submit that, unless information is given regarding how a poll was conducted, that poll should be ignored by the media and certainly by the public. When a poll reveals what split of likely voters was used (e.g., 33% GOP, 33% DEM and 33% IND, not likely but for example!) or what percentages of registered voters were used for a given area or why it used likely versus registered voters, then we should listen. Otherwise that poll should be discarded out of hand. Organizations which do not make such revelations show themselves to be manipulators, not reporters.
I've mentioned in comments on other threads that while the media is a large part of the problem facing America today, there are three things on which we could agree to begin the process of healing our country or taking our country back:
1. Re-regulate the media so that one person or group cannot own more than one outlet in a given media market.
2. Rescind or revise the ruling that enabled corporate person-hood.
3. Enact public financing for elections.