From the Guardian, on election day: Will Barack Obama or John McCain win the US election?

What’s the point of website opinion polls? Are they just an opportunity to solicit uninformed opinion, like a comments box but without the requirement to form prejudices into actual words? Or do they serve some commercial purpose, with marketing drones desperately hoping that people will come back to find out whether the readers of the Daily Mail think that immigration is bad?

I have no idea, but in this occasional series, I’ll be pointing readers at particularly useless or moronic website opinion polls. By this I mean polls that add nothing at all to the overall sum of human understanding because:

• They ask a question that is pure pointless speculation (Do UFOs exist?)
• They ask a question where a rational answer requires specialist knowledge (Is the bank bailout good for the British economy?)
• They are phrased in such a way that every foam-mouthed crazy in the land will rush to vote (Are politicians paid too much?)

Note that polls where you need to pay to vote don’t count - these do serve a purpose, even if it is one of blatant reader exploitation.

First up is the Guardian’s poll today, firmly in the pointless speculation category: Does the Abominable Snowman exist?.

Any sightings of stupid polls welcome - drop us an email or leave a comment.