Includes bibliographical references. Asher, H. (2017). Polling and the public: What every citizen should know (9th ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: CQ Press.

Polling and the Public -- The Importance of Polls -- The Pervasiveness of Polls -- Commissioned Polls -- FRUGging, SUGging, and Pseudopolls -- The Citizen as a Consumer of Polls -- Citizens' Views of Polls -- Polling and Democracy -- Exercises -- The Problem of Nonattitudes -- An Example of Nonattitudes -- The Use of Screening Questions -- Nonattitudes and the Middle Position in Survey Questions -- Response Instability and Nonattitudes -- Implications for Democracy and Public Policy -- Conclusion -- Exercises -- Wording and Context of Questions -- Question Wording -- Question Order and Context -- Order, Context, and Visual Effects in Self-Administered Surveys -- An Extended Example -- Conclusion -- Exercises -- Sampling Techniques -- Nonprobability Sampling -- Sampling Designs -- Sample Size and Sampling Error -- Total Versus Actual Sample Size -- Response Rates -- Weighting the Sample --Two Extended Examples -- Conclusion -- Exercises -- Interviewing and Data Collection Procedures -- Methods of Collecting Polling Information -- Interviewer Effects in Public Opinion Polling -- Internet Polling -- Conclusion -- Exercises -- The Media and the Polls -- Standards for Reporting Results -- Substantive Interpretation of Polls -- Media, Polls, and the News Reporting Emphasis -- Conclusion -- Exercises -- Polls and Elections -- Sponsors of Election Polls -- Types of Election Polls -- Uses of Polls by Candidates -- Polls in the Presidential Selection Process -- When and Why Election Predictions Are Wrong -- How Preelection Polls Affect Voters -- Conclusion -- Exercises -- Analyzing and Interpreting Polls -- Choosing Items to Analyze -- Examining Trends with Polling Data -- Examining Subsets of Respondents -- Interpreting Poll Results -- When Polls Conflict and When Polls Surprise: Some Final Thoughts -- Exercises -- Polling and Democracy -- How to Evaluate Polls: A Summary -- Polls and Their Effect on the Political System -- Conclusion -- Exercise

Fully updated with new data and scholarship, the Ninth Edition examines the 2014 midterm elections and the use and misuse of polls in campaigns, and delivers new coverage of web-based and smartphone polling. It also provides a non-technical explanation of the methodology of polling so that students become informed participants in political discourse.