Beyond the Horse Race, Chapter 9 Summary

The final chapter of the recently released book by John Zogby, “Beyond the Horse Race, How to Read Polls and Why We Should,” knits together the defense by Zogby of the continued relevance and importance of polling in a world largely skeptical of its accuracy. Of course, some significant polling failures have happened in recent elections; however, according to Zogby, polling is one of the best tools to understand the general mood of public opinion. He addresses many of the criticisms yet points out that the polling industry evolves and changes with the new challenges.

Zogby speaks to how new technologies, from online surveys to hybrid polling methods, continue to make modern polling both increasingly accurate and far-reaching. These innovations allow pollsters to reach a wide, representative sample of the population and can mitigate some of the drawbacks that have attended the falling response rate in traditional telephone surveys.

He repeats the same in the end that “polling is an essential tool in any democracy”. The more polarized the political environment, the more polls give an idea to the people really about how others think and feel on important issues. No poll is perfect, but good polls, he says, are like those by Zogby Strategies – a trend research company offering a most reliable window available into the mind of the voter and consumer.

Key Lessons from Chapter 9:

The polling industry is modernizing, embracing newer technologies and techniques in the name of better representation and higher response rates for online surveys.

Relevant yet: Although criticized on many aspects lately, Zogby insists polling still is one of the best tools in understanding public opinion and helping to make decisions. 

More Polarization, More Need for Polls: A polarized world needs polling all the more for monitoring a change in the mindset of the voters, and understanding what motivates people to make political decisions.