The Role of Opinion Polls

Are there others who would like to experience the election process without the dubious benefit of opinion polls? By the time I reached voting age in the early 1960s, polling was a firmly established tool. Even then, well in advance of election days, we were being told what each “segment” of the electorate thought, who/what stand was favored by each, and how each contest would be decided.

It seems that polling statistics take precedence in most minds over the content of party platforms, the candidates’ speeches, voting records and backgrounds, and concern over the potential impact of the plethora of initiatives.

For much of the public, polling eliminates the need to listen, compare, think, and reach a logical decision. Polling makes it all so easy--and so meaningless. The excitement of anticipation is removed long before election day. Is it any wonder that we stay away from the voting booths in droves?

We would be a better informed, more representative electorate if, by the absence of polls, we were forced to gather information about the issues and the candidates for ourselves and to reach conclusions in the privacy of our minds.

Opinion polls are misused not only by the media, but also by the candidates. They offer the ability to tell each audience exactly what it wants to hear. A candidate can, if required by the data, alter his persona, his beliefs, etc.

I am not naive enough to believe that any of this is new. Certainly, as long as any public body has been favored with the privilege of the vote, its opinions have been sought out and responded to. The difference today is the scale and timeliness of data-gathering and processing together with the power offered to all by mass communications. The unwise manipulation of these tools has created the situation that I have described.

It is unreasonable to suggest that polling be controlled or abolished. I can only hope that the public at large will somehow come to understand how it is being manipulated and will respond by rejecting this second-hand misinformation.

JOE SPRINGER

Sierra Madre