The reason for aggregating polls is that individual polls can vary fairly widely in their individual survey results. Generally, a more accurate picture can be drawn from multiple polls as it enlarges the sample size and provides a broader picture. To put it into photographic terms, a dozen different photos of a location will offer more information about that location than a single photo is able to provide.
The Suffolk poll of 1,000 people across the entire country of over 330 million people, while interesting, is one small sample. The aggregation of two polls, of 1,000 people each, doubles the sample size. Aggregating 10 polls of similar size would increase the sample size by a factor of 10, and so on. This is why poll aggregators like 538 or RealClearPolitics will generally provide a clearer picture and is why they are often cited.
As an example, in the most recent Virginia governor race, the final aggregated poll at 538 had Youngkin leading by +1%. If you simply looked at individual polls, however, you would find a range of Youngkin leading by +8% to McAuliffe leading by +4% in the days just before election. Single polls are interesting, but they only give one small snapshot in time. Taking multiple samples and aggregating them will most often provide a better picture due to the broader and larger sample this provides.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/governor/virginia538 and RealClearPolitics have very different methodologies. 538 uses a complex weighting system using a large number and variety of polls while RealClearPolitics uses a simple averaging method of a smaller set of polls. There is generally not a large difference between the final results obtained by the two, however, because the primary advantage remains the use of multiple polls rather than methodology which generally accounts for a smaller impact on the resulting percentage obtained.
I wouldn't and don't worry too much about one approval poll, or even aggregated polls, at any one point in time for a president's administration. That really only becomes significant just prior to an election.
If you look at the variations in approval poll ratings over time for the presidents presented at 538, you'll find huge variations in approval and they can have wild swings in a fairly short time or over longer periods. They are instructive as to why hyperventilating over one poll at one point in time, especially so early in an administration, is probably unnecessary. You can just scroll down the page linked below and move your cursor over the timelines to get an idea of what I'm referencing and why I'm not too concerned.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating* Just as a side note and
not in response to your post Les, while comparing aggregated poll numbers to aggregated poll numbers, especially from the same source using the same methodology, makes sense—comparing a single poll to a set of aggregated polls makes little sense.
