Margin of Error

Mobocracy: How the Medias Obsession with Polling Twists the News, Alters Elections, and Undermines Democracy, by Matthew Robinson (Prima, 377 pp., $24.95)

POLLS can provide useful information, but only if readers understand their limitations. The caveat is increasingly important as the media take polls with increasing frequency and decreasing quality. Where reporters once used polls in their stories, the polls now often make headlines themselves. But reporters rarely provide the information necessary to weigh the worth of poll results.

About the Author

Ramesh Ponnuru

Ramesh Ponnuru is the editor of National Review, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Mobocracy: How the Medias Obsession with Polling Twists the News, Alters Elections, and Undermines Democracy, by Matthew Robinson (Prima, 377 pp., $24.95)

POLLS can provide useful information, but only if readers understand their limitations. The caveat is increasingly important as the media take polls with increasing frequency and decreasing quality. Where reporters once used polls in their stories, the polls now often make headlines themselves. But reporters rarely provide the information necessary to weigh the worth of poll results.