How is it that in the U.S.,surveys of 1,000 are accepted as representative of the entire country?

Question

I’ve noticed most U.S. polls query around 1,000 people and sometimes even less. Somehow that qualifies for headlines like “Americans say…” or “Most Americans…” How is it acceptable that 0.0002% of the population is accepted as representative?

In: Other

Answer 1

They’re only interacting with a certain type of person in the first place, someone that would actually take the poll. Then there’s also the method the poll was given in that will further diminish the people that will actually participate.