John Podhoretz Quotes

The pollsters and pundits will keep trying to read voters' minds.

The last thing you want to do is read the latest poll and then make policy.

I'd rather be underestimated by the polltakers than by the voters.

Early polls mean nothing.

I have never seen a poll elect anyone

Frankly, I thought we would have lost the House by now.

There are elections in which everyone knows that 'the people have spoken' but they don't always know exactly what the people have said. This November's election was different. Not only did the people speak, they spoke clearly.

I don't put a lot of stock into polls.

I don't put too much stock in polls.

I think there are a lot of factors going into an election. I think the bottom line is - is that Donald Trump is gonna be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America. And it's not necessarily profitable to sort of try to untangle all the different factors that went into it.

Any poll is a picture of an unfinished horse race except the Election Day polls.

I don't look at polls.

I never felt comfortable with making political decisions based on whether, you know, it was the right thing to do in terms of a poll.

I think the American people should express their preferences, and we'll accept their choice.

There were a number of referendums in '98 that most of the things I voted for passed. That's very satisfying when you feel that most of the country is in step with your views.

You'd think experienced political professionals would know better than to place their trust in exit polls, notoriously inaccurate surveys that had John Kerry winning the 2004 election by five points when he actually lost by three.

History shows one important fact: the results of competitive special elections from Hawaii to New York are poor indicators of broader trends or future general election outcomes.

The 2014 election was not a repudiation of government in general.

California is going to be quite good for the Democrats. But the rest of the country is a draw.

Polling is merely an instrument for gauging public opinion. When a President or any other leader pays attention to poll results, he is, in effect, paying attention to the views of the people.

It is now possible to say that the judgment of the people has often been wiser than the judgment of Congressmen or even of the experts. For one thing, the public has no axes to grind. Pressure groups aren't at work on the general public, as they are on legislators.

The election was held today. Besides the two great party tickets, there is a new party which has polled most unexpectedly five or six thousand votes. They call themselves the American party, and are opposed to the extension of suffrage to foreigners; ... with this powerful demonstration of popular opinion in their favor, I should not be surprised if ere long they should swallow up the Whig party. This new movement has occasioned a great defection from both parties.

I've learned a long time ago not to take polls too seriously.

By choice, polls validate the media’s filtered view of the world.

I have been defeated for election often enough to know that the majority can be wrong.