National & Minnesota Report
Polls are a snapshot in time and not an electoral result. They provide a sentiment from the polled group, but all nowadays all polls are self-selective. Sure, they seek to get a broad brush of the electorate, but when a person decides to answer their phone from a number they do not know, that is them making a conscious choice to answer the phone.
Additionally, there are criticisms of oversampling Democrats over Republicans, made by the Republican side. If true, then it is also possible to include those voters and weight the results to make sure they do not skew the poll result.
In the past, polls tended to include approximately 1,000 voters, and here in Minnesota, it was 1,000 potential voters because, as was argued vehemently against us by the Star Tribune Minnesota Pollster Rob Daves, because of same-day voter registration, anyone was a potential voter.
We have always argued that there should be two tracks: one of this group and another of those who have voted in past elections and are registered voters.
So, we conclude, on the question of Do Polls Matter? Yes, somewhat, but they are more accurate the closer one gets to the election.