Select Committee on Political Polling and Digital Media
The politics of polling
Report of Session 2017-19 - published 17 April 2018 - HL Paper 106
Contents
Political polling in the United Kingdom
The accuracy of voting intention polls
Persuading the public to take part
Decline in the value of socio-economic class as a weighting variable
Financial constraints and the impact of the internet
The impact of voting intention polling
Impact on the media ‘narrative’
Chapter 3: Media reporting of voting intention polls
Concerns about media reporting of polls
Lack of reference to important caveats
Headlines and margins of error
What can polling organisations do?
The challenges faced by journalists
Views on what could be done to improve media reporting of voting intention polls
Chapter 4: The use of policy issues polls
Methods used by polling organisations
Case study: IPSO complaint upheld against the Daily Express
Case study: Survey of members of the Royal College of Physicians
Case study: IPSO complaint upheld against The Sun
Case study: Press Complaints Commission complaint resolved with the Daily Mirror
Chapter 5: Oversight of polling
International comparison: France—Commission des Sondages
The case for action on regulation
The use of social media data for predicting elections
Spread of misinformation on social media
Social media and political campaigning
Options for tackling the challenges posed by social media
Summary of conclusions and recommendations
Appendix 1: List of Members and declarations of interest
Appendix 3: Informal briefings
Appendix 5: The polling industry in the UK
Appendix 6: British Polling Council: A Journalist’s Guide To Opinion Polls
Appendix 7: Letter sent to Liaison Committee
Appendix 8: Acronyms and glossary
Evidence is published online at https://www.parliament.uk/political-polling-digital-media and available for inspection at the Parliamentary Archives (020 7219 3074).
Q in footnotes refers to a question in oral evidence.