The best way to stop this is to stop people from paying attention to free public polls; They are lies at this stage. They rely on self-fulfilling prophecy via conformity manipulation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQI8pZJiMe0
I think you are right about manipulation. The news media sure rode the rise of Rick Santorum hard in IA, but which came first...the surge or the reporting on it?