A Prevalence of Polling

Why Political Polls are so Popular with the Mainstream Media

Oct 20, 2006 Kate Butler

The Globe and Mail-CTV poll released Wednesday is the most recent example of just how pervasive the use of the polling method has become in our mainstream news media.

On Wednesday, a Globe and Mail-CTV poll was released: it showed that the federal Liberals and Conservatives are now in a dead heat in terms of voter preferences. If an election were to be held tomorrow, it would appear that we would have another minority government, although which party would end up winning is anyone’s guess. This poll was the on the front page of the Globe today, and was one of the major stories in CTV’s evening broadcast.

How is it that a poll like this one can garner such attention and command? The fact that the two major parties are deadlocked is somewhat interesting, but rather irrelevant. This type of public opinion poll is hardly unusual and is in fact, becoming even more prevalent. So why is it that media outlets care so much about polls, and why do they give them so much credence?

Polling companies are regularly commissioned by think tanks, businesses, non-profit groups and government agencies to ask citizens what they think about certain issues, events, or individuals. These polls garner some attention and interest, and are usually used by whoever ordered the survey for internal purposes, such as marketing, publicity or public relations.

However, in recent years, we have seen the explosion of the political poll, due mainly to mass media obsession with these statistical tools. During elections, the sheer volume of polls can become rather overwhelming. The question is why have the mainstream media become so obsessed with gauging citizen opinions on politics?

Instead of spending energy, time and money examining policy issues, complex legislation, or what the current government is actually doing with our tax dollars, newspapers and television news stations turn to polls. These polls are interesting to voters in that they are easy to read, uncomplicated, and supposedly provide information about how their fellow citizens feel about the current political scene. However, because they ask such a small number of people, and because they are so often commissioned immediately after an event or policy announcement, the results are relatively meaningless.

Polls are a cheap and easy way for media outlets to get viewers and readers, and should be taken with a grain of salt. While polling certainly can be useful, media consumers should be aware of the nature of this type of statistical data, and realize how insignificant political polling often is.

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