Public Opinion

In today's society, public opinion polls are used to defend and argue against almost every imaginable issue. They are used to determine who is the leading candidate in elections, if the people support those they do elect, if movies, television and other media products are any good, or at least desirable and they determine what kind of products we as consumers want to purchase, also to determine the presidential approval rating. The only problem with …

…participate in polls and for the most part prefer not to. Hence, those who are activity involved are those who also readily participate in public debate and are stronger in their preconceived opinions and are too self-interested to be indicative of actual public sentiment. In conclusion, while public opinion polls are "public" they might not be the opinions of the public as a whole, but rather the views of different sectors of the general public.