An opinion poll is the most popular form of polls other than elections conducted by government to elect people’s representatives. Generally these are a set of questions asked to guess public opinion. These polls are conducted on a sample group of people which represent less than the 5% of the target group. Opinion polls are either basic in nature or they are political. Those that are political in nature generally only take place prior to election time. Other polls are conducted at all times of the year. The results from political polls can help to determine if new products will do well on the market as well as other issues.

Non political polls are about some hot topics or trends of the society. Generally business or social organizations conduct these polls to understand the needs of the people in a particular subject area. The target group of these polls is smaller and these polls more reliable. The reliability of opinion polls depends on so many factors. A lot of scientific research has been done in this area. The polls are almost transformed in to scientific researches by adapting latest means. Some of the important factors that decide the reliability of the poll include sampling method, the method of survey, and the framing of questions.

Sampling methods are less reliable in political surveys as voters do not always say the truth about their political desires. In many instances the person may be uninformed about the issues or the people that the political poll is about. Most of the polls are taken face to face in open or public places. Phone surveys, mail surveys, and internet surveys are also popular. In the later the pollster can observe the feelings of the answerer, so there is less possibility of getting true opinion.

The framing of questions always influences the answer. The multiple choices given can lead the answerer in a particular way. Sampling errors and non responsive bias are some other factors that reduce the credibility of the polls. Professional poll organizations conducting different opinion polls are a big business now. Some organizations took this as a profession and do this work for the people in need, such as political parties and business groups. This is a well settled business in Western world and rapidly growing one in the Eastern counterpart. The low rates of literacy and social exposure can have negative effect on these polls.

Opinion polls effect people to a certain extent. But this effect still needs good scientific support. Some experts say that the results of these polls bend the public opinion more towards winners or leaders of the poll. This is called the bandwagon effect. But this is also not always true both in commercial and political polls.