"It's necessary to know who did the survey, who paid for it, and to know a little about the target group to assess a poll's validity." And it's also important to be sure that the polling methods were not such as to allow the results to be distorted.

The circumstances of a military unit are different from that of civilian life, and the fact that the people carrying out the poll might have a deservedly good repuration, and had no intention of skewing the results wouldn't necessarily guarantee the accuracy of a poll.