| Term | Definition |
|---|
| exit polls | polls conducted as voters leave selected polling places on Election Day. |
| margin of error | a measure of the accuracy of a public opinion poll. |
| political ideology | the coherent set of values and beliefs about the purpose and scope of government held by groups and individuals. |
| political socialization | the process through which individuals acquire their political beliefs and values. |
| public opinion | What the public thinks about a particular issue or set of issues at any point in time. |
| public opinion polls | interviews or surveys with samples of citizens that are used to estimate the feelings and beliefs of the entire population. |
| push polls | polls taken for the purpose of providing information on an opponent that would lead respondents to vote against that candidate. |
| random sampling | a method of poll selection that gives each person in a group the same chance of being selected. |
| sample | a subset of the whole population selected to be questioned for the purposes of prediction or gauging opinion. |
| stratified sampling | a variation of random sampling; census data are used to divide the country into four sampling regions. Sets of counties and standard metropolitan statistical areas are then randomly selected in proportion to the total national population. |
| straw polls | unscientific surveys used to gauge public opinion on a variety of issues and policies. |
| tracking polls | continuous surveys that enable a campaign to chart its daily rise or fall in support. |
Combine with other sets
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