When campaigning organisations commission polls you kind-of expect the results of the poll to back up their position, even if the poll is conducted by a reputable polling company.
So if, say, the People's Vote campaign or the Leave Means Leave campaign commissions a poll and the results reinforce their respective positions, then it's easy to feel wary - even if the polls are just as scrupulously-conducted as any other poll and, in all probability, just as reliable - or unreliable.
You always need to look at the question though. One of the questions Leave Means Leave put via ComRes a few days ago ran as follows:
Some have described the government's approach to Brexit as a 'stitch-up'. Reflecting on this, do you agree or disagree with the following statement?:Organisations like the BBC seem to be in favour of remaining in the EU and fail to give an impartial view on Brexit
Now, there's undoubtedly a 'leading' quality (or two) to that question. I'd prefer a simple 'Do you agree or disagreement with the following statement? The BBC reports Brexit in a biased way' kind of question (complete with follow-up questions), with none of that framing.
But, it's a question nonetheless and it was conducted by ComRes in their usual way, so - for what it's worth - the results are as follows:
42% agree that the BBC has a pro-EU, anti-Brexit bias
25 % disagree
33% don't know
Gosh what a question. It would take some working out what the front half has to do with the back half. It's like something constructed by a lay person writing one of those petitions to the government rather than the work of a professional polling organisation.
ReplyDeleteThere are many tricks to opinion polls...They often do "softening up" questions (which they don't publish). They will obviously be different depending on whether the client is Greenpeace of Exxon.
DeleteThe first thing an opinion pollster does is try and find out what the client is trying to achieve. They frame the questions accordingly.
Of course, the question was framed in dodgy fashion but then you have to set that against the constant brainwashing from the BBC itself, politicians, clergy, MSM generally, Ofcom and others suggesting that the BBC is a trustworthy, unbiased reporter. From that perspective it's quite remarkable that 42% is pro-EU, anti-Brexit.
How CAN 33% not know? Staggering!
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