symbol symÂ·bol (sÄ­m'bÉl) n. Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible. A printed or written sign used to represent an operation, an element, a quantity, or a relation, as in mathematics or chemistry.
Factual Reporting: HIGH. Notes: Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart (PVS), is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States.
This neatly ties in with the model for voter intention, so the simplest way of dealing with the polls is to say that the poll result equals the corresponding voter intention. Thus, if a national poll on 23 October says that Obama would win 53% of the vote, then that is the national voting intention.