Presidential Polls And The News Media

Paul J. Lavrakas, Michael W. Traugott

• Preface -- Introduction -- News Media's Use of Presidential Polling in the 1990s: An Introduction and Overview -- Developments in Media Polling -- Election Polling in Historical Perspective -- Page One Use of Presidential Pre-Election Polls: 1980-1992 -- The Use of Focus Groups to Supplement Campaign Coverage -- The Methodology of Media Polls -- How Pollsters and Reporters Can Do a Better Job Informing the Public: A Challenge for Campaign '96 -- A Review of the 1992 VRS Exit Polls -- Methods of Allocating Undecided Respondents to Candidate Choices in Pre-Election Polls -- Media Polls in the 1992 Election -- The 1992 Election and the Polls: Neither Politics Nor Polling as Usual -- The Evolving Use of Public Opinion Polls by The New York Times: The Experience in the 1992 Presidential Election -- Problems of Character: Was It the Candidate or the Press? -- Public Reactions to Media Polls -- The People, the Press and Campaign '92 -- Media, Momentum and Money: Horse Race Spin in the 1988 Republican Primaries -- Conclusion -- The Media's Use of Election Polls: A Synthesis and Recommendations for 1996 and Beyond