Imagine you're in a classroom, and the teacher asks everyone their favorite ice cream flavor. If most say chocolate, you might guess that chocolate is the class favorite. Political polls are like this, they ask people who they think will win the election, and from that small group, they try to figure out what the whole country thinks. They use a random sample of people to get a good idea of how everyone feels without asking every person in the country.
Examples
- A school asks a few students if they like pizza before ordering lunch, that's like a poll.
- If a class votes on their favorite color and most choose blue, the teacher might guess that the whole school likes blue too.
- The coach picks some players to test how fast they run, it helps predict the team's overall speed.
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See also
- How Do Election Polls Work?⎢Civics in a Minute⎢TakePart TV?
- How Does a Secret Vote Really Work?
- How Can a Single Vote Change Everything?
- How Does a Single Vote Really Influence an Election?
- How Does a Simple Vote Decide an Entire Election?