Poll Quotes

“Polls could be self-fulfilling prophecies, shaping reality as much as they described it.”

“Lucy's polls were sometimes kind of violent.”

“If you will conduct a poll with most people in our world today and ask them to tell you what is the ideal life they dream about. Most people will tell you that they are dreaming of having a house on an island, but really they are spending away and whining away their lives.”

“...Subordination of the state to Christian values is precisely what the early Puritans, even those in the tradition of the Mayflower Pilgrims, aimed to do. The First Amendment notwithstanding, large numbers of the American public (especially churchgoing Protestant Christians) have embodied this Puritan way of thinking, viewing America as a "Christan nation." Relatively recent poll data bear out the enduring character of these Puritan convictions. According to a Pew Forum poll held just prior to the 2004 election, over one-half of the public would have reservations voting for a candidate with no religious affiliation (31 percent refusing to vote for a Muslim and 15 percent for a Catholic).”

“Stephen Covey, in his book The 8th Habit, decribes a poll of 23,000 employees drawn from a number of companies and industries. He reports the poll's findings: * Only 37 percent said they have a clear understanding of what their organization is trying to achieve and why * Only one in five was enthusiastic about their team's and their organization's goals * Only one in five said they had a clear "line of sight" between their tasks and their team's and organization's goals * Only 15 percent felt that their organization fully enables them to execute key goals * Only 20 percent fully trusted the organization they work forThen, Covey superimposes a very human metaphor over the statistics. He says, "If, say, a soccer team had these same scores, only 4 of the 11 players on the field would know which goal is theirs. Only 2 of the 11 would care. Only 2 of the 11 would know what position they play and know exactly what they are supposed to do. And all but 2 players would, in some way, be competing against their own team members rather than the opponent.”

“How far would Moses have gone if he had taken a poll in Egypt?”

“Never confuse truth and the latest public opinion poll.”

“Percentages! Those are for economists, polls, and politicians. Percentages can't define your identity.”

“Do you ever get the feeling that the only reason we have elections is to find out if the polls were right?”

“If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign.”