Public Opinion

[cycloneworld]

How much do you think public opinion should weigh into decision-makers' decisions? Does it change depending on who that decision maker is, eg. a politician, CEO, or Jamie Pollard?

Some people put a lot of stock in opinion polls...like politicians.

Some people don't care about public opinion polls...like the President.

Some people are a mixture of both...like Jamie Pollard. The Iowa game ticket strategy certainly wasn't to please the public. However, I could argue that the firing of Dan McCarney was.

What is your opinion of Public opinion?

[Cyclonepride]

A great leader makes decisions quickly, and changes them slowly. You can't do that by paying attention to public opinion. It sways like the wind, and changes from day to day. Polls are difficult to read, because they usually only give a few one sentence answers, to more involved questions. They are also partly emotion based, and the results can be skewed based on the wording of the questions (and answers).

So, in summary, I would hope that my AD, president, leader, etc. would pay only a little bit of attention to them.

[herbiedoobie]

"The Herd" of public opinion is almost always completely wrong on an issue. A leader ignores public opinion, because he or she realizes that leading is not something that everyone can do. True leaders know what to do and do it, then, with success, public opinion will follow their success.

Also, polling is crap "science" and pollsters attempt to capture something which they cannot help but influence. Determining what questions to ask is an exercize in 100% bias.

[He-Man]

This topic is going nowhere but oblivion fast because there are so many variables when decisions are made it's impossible to say. Local 1 cent taxes local opinion > 1 person. Wire-tapping my phone: greater opinion > lessor opinion/1 person. National Aid for disaster area: 1 person > national majority. Wars: people in higher power > citizens.

[Michael Lastuvka]

As Machiavelli would point out, it's best to be stern as well as please the masses from time to time. He seemed to think being about 65% stern and 35% kind was the answer, and I buy into that. A community starts to question a leader when he/she doesn't have the testicular/other body part fortitude to have a strong opinion and stick to his/her guns.