Understanding public opinion is integral to modern democracies. It shapes public policies; it helps politicians to connect with their audiences; it reveals underlying issues that are of utmost importance for political decision-makers.

Social research and opinion polls give people the opportunity to express their views regularly on different topics and provide an efficient way to measure public opinion. The purpose of this book is to illustrate how public opinion polling matters in politics, in the public sphere and more generally in our globalized economies.

The book provides an international and up to date perspecive on public opinion polling. It is based on studies from more than 50 countries across the world and in-depth case studies from the United States; Canada, Germany, Great Britain, France, Norway, the Western Balkans, India, Indonesia, New Zealand and the Philippines.