Federal Political Opinion Polls - do they matter?

We are 39 months out till the next federal election and there are a host of polls coming out, I do not think they have any real relevance to anything in Canadian politics.  The only impact of the polls is for the media, pundits and public to avoid looking at the issues.

Public opinion polls are not news but they are treated as such and even worse they are reported on as if they were much more accurate than they really are.   We are still in the first year of a majority government which means the government should be doing their unpopular stuff at the moment.  We are also now into the summer, the dead political season.  Given these factors, any polling done at the moment is not in anyway an accurate reflection of what would happen in an election.

What bearing do the polls have on federal politics at the moment?  Will it change how we are governed? Will any of these polls change anything at all or will it simply be fodder for political junkies to dissect trying to glean portents about the future?

The major media should declare an 18 month moratorium on reporting on federal political opinion polls and put more energy into to digging deeply into what the government is doing.