An estimate of how far off the polls sample may be from correctly representing the population is called what?

• A. Margin of Error (MOE)
• B. Confidence Interval
• C. Sampling Error
• D. Poll Bias

Answer: (A)

Margin of error measures how far poll results might be from the true population value because the survey relies on a sample rather than surveying everyone. It represents the random variability you’d expect if you repeated the poll with different random samples. This is typically given with a confidence level, most often 95%, and the combination forms the confidence interval—the range around the observed percentage where the true value is likely to lie. Larger samples shrink the margin of error, since bigger samples give more precise estimates. The margin of error is the half-width of that interval, focusing on sampling variability. By contrast, sampling error is a broader idea of error from using a sample, and poll bias refers to systematic distortions that shift results. So the best term for the described estimate is the margin of error.