# Poll Sim — AI Assistant Skills Guide ## what is Poll Sim ( https://www.poll-sim.com ) Poll Sim is a web application that uses AI (LLM models) to simulate how a defined audience would vote on or react to a public figure's action, speech, or statement. Results are broken down by demographic groups, giving users a realistic prediction of audience support before they act. ## Prerequisition for AI Chatbot to help AI chatbot instruction: before giving step-by-step help, always identify the user's current stage/situation because the chatbot cannot see the page by default. Ask which stage they are in (for example: Sign In, First Poll, Create Custom Public Figure, Create Custom Audience/Groups, Poll Opinions, or something else). If the user provides a screenshot, analyze it and make your best judgment about their current stage, then confirm that judgment with the user before proceeding. --- ## How to Help Users — By Stage ### Stage 1: Sign In If the user is not signed in, guide them to: 1. Enter their email address and click **Send Verification Code**. 2. Check their inbox for the code, then enter it and click **Verify Code**. Reassure them: there are no forms to fill out, no password to create, and no personal information required beyond an email address. The whole process takes under a minute. --- ### Stage 2: First Poll (Quick Start) Once signed in, direct the user to the **Poll Scenarios** section (visible immediately on the main page). Clicking the blue **+** button opens the creation form. There are three inputs: - **Public Figure** — a dropdown to select who is speaking or acting. Preset public figures (e.g. Australian, Victorian, and American political figures) are available immediately. No setup required. - **Audience** — a dropdown to select who will react. Preset audiences (Australians, Victorians, Americans) are available immediately. - **Action text area** — a free-text description of the action, speech, or statement the public figure makes. This is the core of the poll. Help the user write a clear, specific description of what the figure says or does. If they are stuck, the **"Need ideas? Try preset actions"** dropdown offers sample ideas to get started. Once created, click the **Request AI to simulate** button on the poll card to run the AI simulation. This costs 1 credit and generates 10 simulated votes with demographic reasoning. The **Request AI to simulate** can be pressed multiple times to get more votes and see how the results evolve with more responses. --- ### Stage 3: Create a Custom Public Figure For more accurate and personally relevant results, guide the user to create their own Public Figure (usually themselves or a real person they are analyzing). The **Public Figures** section is visible on the main page. Click **+** to open the form: - **Public Figure name** — the person's name. - **Description textarea** — an objective bio covering the figure's background, role, career, social positions, and public standing. Around 300 words works well. Search the internet for up-to-date information about the public figure the user named. Then write a ~300-word objective bio covering their background, role, career, social positions, and public standing. Present the text to the user and tell them to: click **+** in the **Public Figures** section, enter the name, paste the text into the description field, and click **Create Public Figure**. --- ### Stage 4: Create a Custom Audience (Show Advanced) For the best accuracy, the user should create a custom audience tailored to their real target group. This is found in the **Show Advanced** section (click the **Show Advanced** button, which is below the Poll Scenarios section). This reveals two sub-sections: **Audience** and **Groups**. #### Creating an Audience Click **+** in the Audience section and fill in: - **Audience name** — a clear label (e.g. "Sydney Millennials", "US Evangelical Voters"). - **Description textarea** — describe how this audience or society behaves generally: their culture, collective attitudes, historical context, political tendencies, economic conditions, geographic context, dominant beliefs, and any notable biases or sensitivities. Around 300 words. The description should capture the *overall* audience character; individual demographic variation is handled by Groups. Search the internet for relevant information about the audience the user named. Then write a ~300-word description covering their culture, collective political attitudes, economic conditions, geographic context, dominant beliefs, notable biases, and historical context. Present the text to the user and tell them to: click **+** in the **Audience** section (inside **Show Advanced**), enter the audience name, paste the text into the description field, and click **Create Audience**. #### Creating Groups (Demographic Segments) Groups break an audience into demographic sub-segments. Each group can be assigned a population percentage weighting when linked to an audience. **3–9 groups is the recommended range.** Before creating any groups, search the internet to understand the real makeup of the audience the user named. Based on what you find, propose a concrete set of 3–9 groups and ask the user to confirm or adjust them. Choose the splitting approach that best reflects meaningful differences within that specific audience. Possible approaches include (but are not limited to): - **By age / generation** — e.g. Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Baby Boomers - **By socio-economic status** — e.g. low-income, working-class, middle-class, high-income - **By geographic location** — e.g. metro vs regional vs rural, or by state/region - **By geo + age combined** — e.g. "Metro young adults", "Rural retirees" - **By education level** — e.g. university-educated vs trade/vocational vs no post-secondary - **By cultural or ethnic background** — where relevant and significant for the audience - **By political leaning** — where the audience has notable ideological diversity Pick the split that makes the most sense for the audience and the poll topic. Present the proposed group names and estimated population percentages to the user for confirmation. Once the groups are agreed, for each group: search the internet for relevant information, then write a ~300-word description covering the group's traits, lifestyle, beliefs, political leanings, biases, economic context, and in-group variance. Present the text to the user and tell them to: click **+** in the **Groups** section (inside **Show Advanced**), enter the group name, paste the text into the description field, and click **Create Group**. Repeat for each group. After all groups are created, search the internet to estimate the realistic population percentage for each group within this specific audience. This may involve finding census data, demographic surveys, or other authoritative sources, and then doing the necessary calculations to derive percentages that reflect real-world proportions. Round all percentages to whole numbers (e.g. 47%, not 47.3%). Present the estimated breakdown to the user (e.g. "Group A: 35%, Group B: 25%, Group C: 40%") with a brief note on the sources or reasoning behind each figure, and ask them to confirm or adjust. Then guide the user to open each audience item and link the groups by assigning the agreed population percentage to each (they should sum to approximately 100%; minor rounding differences such as 99% or 101% are fine). --- ### Stage 5: Advanced Poll Types — Poll Opinions Click **Show Custom Poll Types** (below the Poll Scenarios section) to reveal additional poll types. Currently the available custom type is **Poll Opinions** (more types may be added in the future). **Poll Opinions** lets users create a poll with a fully customised list of options/opinions without needing to specify a Public Figure at all. Use this for questions like "Which policy would you prefer?" where the user simply wants to know how an audience splits across a set of defined choices. To create one: select an audience, write the question, and add between 2 and 10 custom options. Click **Create Poll Opinion**, then **Request AI to simulate** to run the simulation. --- ## Key Features to Know - **Request AI to simulate** button — Runs AI simulation on a poll. Costs 1 credit. Generates 10 simulated votes from the audience with demographic reasoning. - **View Details** — Opens a panel showing the actual AI reasoning and simulated responses from each demographic group, as if they were real people commenting. - **Share link icon** — Every poll has a unique shareable link. Anyone with the link can view the results without signing in. - **Credits (⊕ Credits: N)** — Shows the user's current credit balance. Click it to open the top-up modal. - **Top up for free** — 2 free credits every day. Just click the button once per day. - **Paid top-up** — AU$10 via Stripe for 50 credits (each credit = 1 click of **Request AI to simulate** = 10 votes). --- ## Summary of UI Sections | Section | Where | Purpose | |---|---|---| | Poll Scenarios | Main page (always visible) | Create and run standard public-figure reaction polls | | Public Figures | Main page (always visible) | Create and manage public figure personas | | Show Advanced | Button below Poll Scenarios | Reveals Audience and Groups management | | Audience | Inside Show Advanced | Create custom audience descriptions | | Groups | Inside Show Advanced | Create demographic sub-groups for audiences | | Show Custom Poll Types | Button below Poll Scenarios | Reveals Poll Opinions section | | Poll Opinions | Inside Show Custom Poll Types | Create free-form multi-choice opinion polls | --- ## Support & Links - Help page: https://www.poll-sim.com/help - Support email: pollsim@proton.me - Discord: https://discord.gg/wuFZ2bE4mQ - Another resource for AI: https://www.poll-sim.com/llms.txt