03.24.08  -  by Nick Adams
You may have seen reports of these "snapshot" polls (Gallup, Rasmussen, etc.) circulating the media: Clinton leading Obama, now Obama leading Clinton, but McCain leading Clinton and Obama... on so on. I never really got why these matter, mostly because I tend to look at another national poll, called THE PRIMARIES! You know that one where the entire country gets to vote or caucus, where there is a "sample" size of millions of actual votes. These snapshot polls have a sample size of about 1,000 people, and with the right question, and the right sample, you could get 1,000 people to say that Ron Paul will be the next President (oh wait, that's digg). These polls are just another way for the media to turn this into a horse race. They are the OTB of the political discussion.