填空题

Many people are closely following the political polls during the final weeks preceding this important election. But how do these polls actually work Polls are surveys of a (36) small number of people compared to the actual number who will vote. They are an (37) to determine who may actually win an election in advance of the final vote. Let’s say that 100 million people are expected to vote in the (38) election. If 100 people are asked for their opinions, each (39) represents a million voters. Obviously, the results of such a poll are not very (40) . The more people surveyed, the more (41) are the results. Pollsters have various ways of making their polls more accurate. They try to find a representative (42) of people to question. For example, they look for people with similar (43) and from similar regions to those of all the voters. Pollsters also ask questions that try to determine how many people who support each candidate will actually vote. If a candidate has a higher percentage of enthusiastic supporters than his opponent, (44) . Pollsters may only count those who they consider to be "likely voters". Polls often ask potential voters what they like or dislike about each candidate. (45) . Because no two people are the same, polls can never be perfect predictors of the real vote. (46) . At the very least, if you like politics, polls can be great entertainment.

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