Also, polls should be such that there are not a long list of answers. Simplicity. The best poll is Yes/No.  I provide 10 options only for those special circumstances where more than 2 to 4 are required.

Looking at the long list of prior polls in Firearms, I also note polls where the question gives no hint as to what the poll is about. For example, "Vote for the statement with which you most closely agree." This is not a problem when the poll is on the home page, but when a user lists the closed polls they don't have a clue as to what the poll is even about and also see many polls with exactly the same name.