Poll-axed

People who compile political opinion polls should be good at two things: Predictions and numbers. But after their recent failure to correctly forecast the results of Brexit, the 2016 US presidential election, and the 2017 UK general election, it’s unlikely pollsters will be asked to predict winning lottery numbers anytime soon.

     It could be argued that incorrect opinion polls are good indicators of a country’s democratic credentials because they show its citizens can and do change their minds about their politicians. In fact, the only places where opinion polls would be right all the time are dictatorships – that’s because the only opinion that counts in the country belongs to the dictator. 

     Nevertheless, polls could be more accurate. I think the fault doesn’t lie with the pollsters but rather the participants. I mean, the ‘don’t know’ people probably don’t even vote as they don’t even know it’s election day. Even if they did, they wouldn’t go to the polling station as they’d be too busy deliberating on what clothes to wear. 

     Apart from the ‘don’t know’ folk, I think another group should be removed from opinion poll figures. I’ll call them ‘misleaders’ – people who say they will vote one way when they know they will vote the other. These devious people shouldn’t be taking part in election opinion polls. They should be standing for election.

    That’s my opinion on polls. If you have an opinion on opinion polls or an opinion on my opinion on opinion polls, please feel free to leave a comment. I’d also appreciate it if you would ‘vote’ for me by giving me a Like, Share and Follow. And please follow me on 

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(c) John E. McBride