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Does Polling Hurt Democracy?

POLICY FORUM
Tuesday, April 30, 2002
12:00 p.m.

Featuring Matthew Robinson, Author, Mobocracy: How the Media’s Obsession with Polling Twists the News, Alters Elections, and Undermines Democracy; and John Zogby, Zogby International.

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Polling of public opinion has come to dominate our political life. Presidents and members of Congress consult their pollsters just as ancient politicians queried the Oracle of Delphi. Defenders of polling say it improves our democracy by providing the views of the public to policymakers thereby controlling elites. Critics ask whether polling undermines constitutional government in favor of the "will of the people" as discerned by continual surveys.

Cato Institute • 1000 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. • Washington D.C. 20001-5403
Phone (202) 842-0200 • Fax (202) 842-3490