In recent years, the traditional entity for any election has changed. Every major party now has a separate team of experts who influence voters by social media.
One more thing, which gradually becomes popular in recent years is opinion polls. Generally, these opinion polls are conducted by private firms and agencies. These Agencies form an integrated result of any particular area by conducting surveys.
Following are the consequence of opinion polls-
1. It is not necessary the person who takes part in an opinion poll survey, reveals his/her true vote. Generally, people feel uneasy on such opinion polls.
2. The sample taken by opinion poll Agencies are very small. So it is very difficult to predict the mood of such large voters.
3. Media discuss weeks on such opinion polls. So important issues like the report card of the previous government, Manifestos of various parties etc get less coverage. In short, media stats focusing on surveys and opinions rather than real issues.
In the 2004 general election, most of the opinion polls and surveys had shown BJP as Biggest party. On contrary, when the results get declared, Congress got the maximum number of seats.
However, in the 2014 general election, most of the surveys proved right.
Hence, we can say that opinion polls and surveys play a significant role in elections. but problems occur when the whole prediction is made on the basis of these polls.
Should we trust opinion polls?
