Margin of Error (MOE) is:

The "room for error" since the poll is based on a sample and not the whole population. It tells us how much the result might be "off" by determining if the data is significant, or just statistical noise. 

• A smaller margin of error means the poll is more precise, and the larger the sample size, the smaller the margin of error usually is. 

• If a poll says: "52% support Candidate A, with a margin of error of ±3%". That means the real number of people who support Candidate A could be as low as 49% or as high as 55%.

You should consider MOE when:

The Margin of Error is LARGER than the difference in support between candidates or issues; it means that "real" support could overlap, and the comparison is statistically tied.

If a poll says: "Candidate A leads Candidate B 48% to 46% with a ±4% margin of error".

• In these cases, we should be cautious when relaying this information because support could overlap due to the MOE being larger than the difference between support for candidates.