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I’m more interested in the response rate than the sample size. I think all the polls have become rubbish due to low response rate. I’ve been wondering whether Gallup, due to reputation, is getting a better response rate than the others.

The sample size as reported may or may not have anything to do with how many responses they worked with. Given the PEW report on low response rates ~ 9% last year ~ we might have a situation where the response rates are actually as low as 3% this year.

That simply increases the influence of some smaller groups who always answer pollster calls (or take advantage of the call back opportunities most of them offer). That would mean that the smaller the response rate the more important homosexual responses would be, or those of the abortion industry, or maybe even professional feminists.

I think we need to know more about what 'sample size' really meant to the pollster. Plus, we all need larger grains of salt. Today's polls really aren't even a reliable gauge of trend line direction.

Final conclusion ~ this material definitely underscores what I've been saying about the effect low response rates have on polls ~ they become unrepresentative of the total population ~ and although the mathematics behind random sampling remains true, this is reality, and the closer the response rate approaches 0% the higher the probability of getting a BS answer.