I have written many polls over the years. They can be rigged to get whatever answer you want the outcome to be. Based on demographics, what the questions are and how they are worded. The time when you take the polls just to name a few. Demographics seem to be suspect in the presidential polls. A lot of them seem to be over sampled with democrats up to 9% over sampled. That can skew any poll in favor of Clinton.

It appears that Trump gets many times the people at his rallies than Clinton does. The pollsters claim that doesn't translate into votes. Even though it appears that claim is not logical. Polls can be skewed any way the pollsters want them to come out, which is why there is so much differences between them. It depends on the degree of degree of dishonesty of the pollsters.

The real bias in polling is that the polling data only includes people who actually respond. I am quite sure that thinking individuals are going to have a much lower tolerance for political propaganda than non-thinking Democrat voters. Do any of you actually take one of these telephone polls?

You are probably right, I hang up on telephone pollsters as soon as I realize who they are. I find them annoying.

Hidden facts about polls: while the number being polled, and the political demographics are announced, what is not advertised is that in that number are included the "hang ups" who don't respond, and those who don't finish all the questions, so the results could be wildly skewed depending on who responds. Another even more incredible disclosure by a major pollster is that sometimes the pollsters record "inferred" outcomes. What that means is that if a hang-up is listed as a Republican, they may record what they assume the response would have been, rather than a real answer. Even worse, no matter what the person's listed party affiliation, they may record an answer based on where the party resides, as in a Republican who resides in a Democrat-dominated district, and doesn't respond, that may be recorded as a Democrat-supporting response.

There are other shenanigans, such as weighted responses that favor one position or another, or questions skewed to build a response that favors a particular outcome.

Bottom line: keep a degree of skepticism when viewing any poll, for as Gladstone said, "There are lies, there are damned lies, and then there are statistics."

Lies, damn lies and statistics...

I wonder if the reverse psychology is true. I feel that the Trump voters are "The Forgotten Man" and get even more pissed off when they hear :Hillary is leading in the polls. Anger can be a powerful tool when harnessed and used in a constructive manner.

Yes, but the polls serve as a very useful psychological tool in manipulating voters. When people hear that the polls have so-and-so up by a significant margin, many voters simply stay home because they conclude that their vote won't matter. What they forget is that even if their vote wouldn't have changed the Presidential race, there are always a lot more positions up for grabs than just the President's. Their non-vote means that other candidates down-ticket also lose.

Personally, I don't think there should be polls. They're a lot like college football rankings - which get decided pretty much in the pre-season rather than on the field.

I don't see it. Trump has thrown this election because he intended to throw it on day one (unless he failed to get the nomination, in which case he would have run as an independent to spoil it instead). I just wonder how the Clinton Foundation will pay him off afterward.

I dont listen to the media at all any more. They are useless and dead to me. Even FOX is starting to turn against Trump, joining the rest in supporting the establishment.

Me dino blows my nose at all polls and most especially at any percentile claim for a margin for error. It's all humbug to me. Humbug!