TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > Politics > Opinion Polls
A simple way to ask the people what they think.
Statement
Public opinion polls conducted objectively enhance the quality of Democracy.
Outline of our premise.
Opinion polls must be conducted in an objective manor, in order to be beneficial. The poll must not have a leading question and must not upon examination be designed to have a specific answer.
The public opinion poll is currently the best way for citizens to be polled as to what they think about a government policy; there is currently no, more effective way for the government, or any other party to find out what the population thinks in an effective amount of time, as the public opinion poll.
Referendums are costly, and take time.
Keeps the public informed. How else is it possible to find out what Canadians are thinking?
Public opinion polls show what Canadians think, not what the government thinks that Canadians think. When an objective third party conducts a poll you can see if what the government says the public wants to do, matches what public opinion on the issue.
There are no other ways to find out what the public thinks, you can find out through an election, who the people who voted wanted to put in power. This however does not say that the people necessarily want the platform the person elected to be the course of action for their government. And after two years public opinion most definitely changes, how else are elected officials to follow what the public wants.
How else do governments find out what the public thinks about issues?
- Health Care
- Capital punishment
- Abortion
The main thing is making sure that the poll is objective, impartial, and not misleading. It is the responsibility of the one creating the poll to make sure that it is a fair and not leading. It is the responsibility of the agency, or media to ensure that the poll they are publishing has been done in an objective manor. It is the responsibility of the individuals following the poll to make up their own mind on the issue and not to simply follow public opinion.
Rebuttal
While the public opinion poll, when misused can have a negative effect on democracy, it still enhances democracy by being the most effective way to poll the people to find out what the general public thinks. The enhance democracy because there is no other effective way.
Only occur in Democratic regimes. (Courtenay)
Possible Rebuttal points:
- Citizens are not educated enough when they are asked the poll.
- This may be true, but it is still a good indication of what people think.
While it would be good for the public to have a well-researched, well-educated background from which to make their decisions in these polls, the truth is that most Canadians do not take the time to actually research and find out what is behind all the issues. Even in an election period.
- How many people in the average public actually went out and tried to find out anymore about the people running, other then what the media told them?
- What the media tells people is as much as they know about an opinion, and ergo their opinion is going to be what the average Canadian thinks, statistically speaking.
They Don’t allow polls 24 hours before an election.
- Keeps citizens from jumping on a bandwagon right before an election.
- Just because they are not allowed right before an election doesn’t mean that they are not an enhancement to democracy, it is to encourages individuals to make up their own minds and come to their own decision as they head out the door.
- Allow the public to make up their mind, that’s the poll.
- The poll is a statement of what the general public thinks, not necessarily of what each individual should do.
Public Opinion polls enhance democracy by letting people in government position know what the general public wants. This can only be done through objective third party
- Third party has to be objective
- The best way to see how the public wants the government to be doing its job is through public opinion polls.
- There is no other way for way a government to find out what the public wants.
- Referendums are costly and take up time waging a campaign.
- An opinion poll can be done at night by organizations using technology such as telephones.
- Opinion polls should be looked at by the government objectively if an poll comes in from the NRA saying gun control is not wanted by the majority of the public then the government should look into the questions and look at other stats on the matter.
The two main tasks of public opinion polls are to promote democracy by facilitating the flow of information between the decision makers and he public, and to provide the interested people with information that are based in scientific methodology. Two way flow of information between decision makers and public newspapers should accurately report the questions asked, sample size, margin of error, the response rate, and the number of undecided [1]
The problems with polls are not the polls themselves but the people interpreting them. If the poll is done with objectivity and by an impartial third party or group with no misleading questions then the poll should be trusted.
Not voter education but voter opinion
“And they allow citizens to make themselves heard at all times and to see where their own views stand compared with those of other people.”
[2]
“Totalitarian regimes, even when they claim to have won 99% of votes in single list elections, have never risked allowing opinion polls to be conducted in which their citizens might be able to say whether they would prefer a freely chosen regime.
Indeed opinion polls and freedom cannot be separated. The relationship between the pollsters and the polled presupposes a climate of confidence, and published results are credible only in so far as all opinions can be freely expressed, unpleasant as they might be to those in power.”
[3]
Opinion polls are taken off the air before elections to allow individuals to make up their mind. Also to stop bandwagon affects. (Rushing support to a particular candidate or party perceived to be leading or to have momentum)
This is also done to try to reduce strategic voting to an extent.
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