The public can seek out a reputable poll's methodology – easiest to do when browsing results online – to determine if a poll was automated.
Andy Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, says with a laugh that he puts his 11-year-old on the phone to answer robopolling questions. Obviously, Mr. Smith's son is not of voting age.
"I'd just keep away from them," Smith says of the surveys, suggesting they do a poor job of communicating the public's position on issues.
Gallup uses humans to craft the polls and conduct them. It's the people at Gallup who inject the enterprise at turns with critical subjectivity.
Gallup's Mr. Newport, based in Washington, and his colleagues – managing editor Jeff Jones in Princeton, N.J., and senior editor Lydia Saad in Connecticut – were responsible for crafting the June survey.
During a 90-minute conference call – conducted with the efficiency, shorthand, and wonkish tone of longtime colleagues – they reviewed a core set of questions asked monthly since 2001. Unlike others in the field who might seek quick headlines with data, Gallup's team is looking to explore what Americans are feeling now and to establish a long-term trend of opinion (which itself can produce headlines, too).
The three wended their way through pages of possible questions, including those about Mr. Obama's approval ratings, perception of the job market, support for third-party candidates, and top reasons the respondent is supporting a particular presidential candidate.
