Opinion polls - who are the participants?
Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2021 10:04 pm
I was browsing the yougov site, seeing if I could find any data on the forthcoming Batley and Spen By-Election. I couldn't, but from figures elsewhere it looks like Labour might be getting spanked again.
However, I noticed another series on the site, called trends. The same question is asked, every six months. They then graph it.
What amazed me, was the amount of Don't Knows. Here's one example. The question was:
Is The Mirror more favourable towards Labour/the left or the Conservatives/the right?
These were the results:
49% - Don't know
21% - Labour strong
17% - Labour
Others all under 4%
Half the respondents didn't know that the Mirror was left wing. So why do any of us care about who they think will win the next election, or England vs Germany, or anything for that matter?
However, I noticed another series on the site, called trends. The same question is asked, every six months. They then graph it.
What amazed me, was the amount of Don't Knows. Here's one example. The question was:
Is The Mirror more favourable towards Labour/the left or the Conservatives/the right?
These were the results:
49% - Don't know
21% - Labour strong
17% - Labour
Others all under 4%
Half the respondents didn't know that the Mirror was left wing. So why do any of us care about who they think will win the next election, or England vs Germany, or anything for that matter?