Or actually more of a procedure..

If I find my opinion aligns with the majority on some current public issue that's largely driven by emotion (and which ones aren't?) I check my premises and facts again with a skeptical eye.

Is that these types of polls measure the strength of one's opinion on a particular subject.

Take, for example, the "Direction the country is headed" question ... if there is media coverage of the question, whether good or bad, there will likely be a strong disapproval rating, as respondents will be thinking about the question and most will see the policy makers of doing too much or too little; whereas, if there is very little in the media on the question, respondents will not have been thinking about the question much, as there will likely be a high approval number, because "everything is going 'okay'." Only the more engaged of respondents will have much of an opinion on the question.

a lot of people will express reservations about a candidate but that doesn't mean they like the candidate's opponent more. They add the "disapproves" and "somewhat disapproves" together and call them all part of the Disapproval rate. No that's not what they said