John Thune Quotes

To me, polls are like approval ratings for presidents are like an offensive line, right. And if an offensive line is weak, that means the defense is empowered and emboldened.

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

In modern politics, polls often serve as the canary in the mine - an early warning signal of danger or trends. But polls can also be used to wag the dog - diverting attention from something significant.

I don't pay a lot of attention to polls.

I don't put too much stock in polls.

Ironically, the possibility that the president dodged his military service has increased his approval ratings with Democrats by 80 percent.

If I were afraid of polls, I never would've been elected in two landslide elections, leading a highest percentage in our state's last election for governor. If I were afraid of polls, we wouldn't have privatized our charity hospital system, we wouldn't cut our state budget 26%, wouldn't have cut over 30,000 state government bureaucrats, wouldn't have done statewide school choice. Here's the real record.

John Kerry suspended his campaign for five days this week in honor of President Reagan. And right now, he's ahead in the polls. How's that make him feel? Disappears for a week and he's up in the polls. What else can he do now but go into hiding.

On March 8 a poll showed Hart 9 points ahead of Reagan. So perhaps 60 million Americans, 55 million of whom had not heard of Hart a month ago, have suddenly decided thay want him to be leader of the free world. The public mind is not just soft wax, it's runny.

I know there are some polls out there saying this man has a 32% approval rating. But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in reality. And reality has a well-known liberal bias.

Nobody looks at opinion polls with more attention than politicians, but of course you've got to remember that a single poll is a snapshot in time.

You cannot be driven by the polls. The polls change all the time; they're easily manipulated by whoever wants to ask those poll questions; they go up; they go down.

I think we can spend too much time worrying about polls.

The polls indicated that I was feisty, that I was tough, that I had a sense of humor, but they weren't quite sure if they liked me and they didn't know whether or not that I was sensitive.

If it were the Clinton people, they'd be sitting around figuring out how to pull themselves out. Instead the president is continuing to go around the country and peddling Social Security, which the needle is not moving on.

If I worried about pollsters, I wouldn't be president.

Observer's Paradox: How you are doing in the polls will affect how you are doing in the polls.

The single biggest weakness that politicians have as a group is that they want people to like them.

It is not to be expected of men who live for the sole purpose of enjoying official station, that they shall ever be manly, noble or independent. They slavishly cower before every storm that threatens their opinions with popular condemnation, and make haste to trim their sails to catch the passing breeze of public favor.

President Clinton does not use polls to reach positions. He takes positions and then uses the polls to survive the experience.

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

Polls move money as much as money moves polls.

Before some things can be politically expedient, they must first become popular.

Polls are only good for dogs.

Today being President is really no different than running for President. It’s about approval ratings and photo ops and damage control and deniability.