Officials will always leak, because leaks affect public opinion, and public opinion rules in a poll-saturated democracy.

ECONOMIST: The press in the spin cycle

When a politician breaks the pattern and speaks the truth--normally in a crisis too sudden to permit the conducting of a public opinion poll--he gains instant beatification, as Rudy Giuliani and George W. Bush discovered after Sept. 11.

FORBES: Magazine Article

And a post-speech opinion poll shows a divided public.

CNN: State of the Union: Highlights, reactions, analyses

This election-focused social command center dashboard provides a public opinion poll happening right in front of you during the entire election.

FORBES: Connect

The Levada Center, an independently run and well-respected outfit, recently released a new poll on Russian public opinion towards South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

FORBES: Russian Public Opinion on South Ossetia and Abkhazia

Put all that together and it is not surprising that, according to one recent opinion poll, 77% of French adults believe that public-sector working lives, and therefore pension contributions, should be extended to match those of the private sector.

ECONOMIST: French pensions reform

With public anger against suicide-bombing higher than ever a recent Pew Research opinion poll claims that 80% of Pakistanis oppose them the terrorists have now attacked the shrine of a Sufi revered across Pakistan and India.

ECONOMIST: Death in Lahore

According to a French Institute of Public Opinion poll released Wednesday, 56% of the supporters of his party -- the Union for a Popular Movement, known as UMP -- prefer Sarkozy as their candidate for the 2017 presidential election.

CNN: Sarkozy considering return to French politics

Although the Taliban had less than 8 percent support in Afghanistan at the end of 2007, according to an ABC poll, Afghan public opinion is turning against the U.S.-led coalition partly because of the rising number of civilian casualties as the U.S. military hunts down terrorists with airstrikes.

CNN: Amanpour: Obama's 100 days of foreign affairs