[Alter Kaker]

who is absorbing the cost of these polls at this stage of the game?

A large but decreasing portion is paid for by media outlets (ranging from FoxNews and the Wall Street Journal to the WashPost), sometimes it's universities and think tanks, and some of it is paid for by polling firms looking to get free PR. Their hope is that the PR will translate into paying clients for in-house political and corporate work. That last category I think is growing - and it's definitely not in their interest to get a reputation for doing bad polls.

[bankwalker]

My guess is that they can be wildly inaccurate now to be used to influence the electorate. In the last week or 2 before the election they will start to 'move' so that they actually reflect the real polling results so they can maintain their credibility.

At this point nobody knows how accurate they are because that can only be determined by the real election day results.

At this point they can be used as a propaganda tool for the highest bidder or the campaign that best matches their personal agenda.