# Do polls change your voting intentions?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-polls-change-your-voting-intentions/468118>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 15, 2008, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-polls-change-your-voting-intentions/468118 "2008-10-15T23:24:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-polls-change-your-voting-intentions/468118/1 "2008-10-15T23:24:36Z")

</div>

This is a poll about polls!

Does learning that your candidate has a big lead or a big behind (:D) affect your vote? Does it make you more or less likely to vote or do you ignore the polls and do your own thing?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-polls-change-your-voting-intentions/468118/2 "2008-10-15T23:46:49Z")

</div>

No they don’t. I always try to vote and I do it on issues.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-polls-change-your-voting-intentions/468118/3 "2008-10-16T04:53:45Z")

</div>

I always vote, but polling early in this election led me to stop voting absentee in my home state and register to vote in the state where I live 90% of the year (as a student).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-polls-change-your-voting-intentions/468118/4 "2008-10-16T06:45:49Z")

</div>

Hell no.

Voting, for me, has always been about policies and issues. I don’t care if my candidate is trailing by a billion points.

I vote on my conscience. That’s all.

Damned the torpedoes.