Poll: Most Americans distrust at least some political polls

Americans are nearly evenly split between those who are skeptical of most political polls but trust certain sources and those who trust most but are skeptical of certain sources, according to a new HillTV/Harris poll.

Thirty-four percent of respondents said they believe most results but do not trust certain sources, compared to 32 percent who do not believe most results but do trust certain sources. Twenty-two percent said they almost never believe poll results, compared to 11 percent who said they almost always believe them.

{mosads}The results found no gender gap, with men and women within the margin of error of one another for all options. Respondents between 50-64 and those over 65 were least likely to say they generally believe them, with only 6 percent saying so in each age group. Respondents 18 to 34 were most likely to say they trusted them, at 21 percent.

Twenty-percent of millennials generally trusted them, followed by 11 percent of both Generation Z and Generation Z. Only six percent of baby boomers generally trusted them.

Republicans were far more likely to say they almost never believed results, at 30 percent to Democrats’ 12 percent. Democrats were far more likely, at 43 percent, to say they trust most polls but did not trust certain sources, compared to only 29 percent of Republicans.

A full 63 percent of those who considered themselves either strongly conservative or conservative-leaning said they almost never believe poll results, compared to only 15 percent of those who were strongly liberal or liberal-leaning.

The poll was conducted online between Oct. 28 and Oct. 29 among a nationally representative sample of 1,000 registered voters. It has a 3.1-point margin of error.