Consider a simple "yes/no" poll formula_1 as a sample of formula_2 respondents drawn from a population formula_3 reporting the percentage formula_4 of "yes" responses. We would like to know how close formula_4 is to the true result of a survey of the entire population formula_6, without having to conduct one. If, hypothetically, we were to conduct poll formula_1 over subsequent samples of formula_2 respondents (newly drawn from formula_6), we would expect those subsequent results formula_10 to be normally distributed about formula_11. The "margin of error" describes the distance within which a specified percentage of these results is expected to vary from formula_11.