… We always hear that politicians are unprincipled weather vanes, slavishly following polls. Harry Truman put it best: “I wonder how far Moses would have gone if he’d taken a poll in Egypt? What would Jesus Christ have preached if he’d taken a poll in Israel? . . . It isn’t polls or public opinion of the moment that counts. It is right and wrong and leadership.”
It’s true that candidates might play down or change positions if polling suggests it would help their prospects. But mostly, politicians use information from polls to figure out how to explain positions they already hold. CONT.
David Greenberg (Rutgers), Washington Post