I think polls have a place where there isn’t much discussion to have on a topic, or where the poll is a part of a bigger discussion post and only asks about something clear and specific.
I get SE’s decision to not turn whole meta-discussions into polls via voting on answers containing a simple one-liner option, because that removes the discussion. Polls and discussions are different things used for different purposes, though. Polls can exist inside discussions and be a useful tool when applied appropriately.
It doesn’t have to be a whole post-type on par with “question” and “answer” system, but be an element of a post, like a code block but the one which you cannot edit once you’ve started the poll and there are already votes.