Opinion: Polls offer disservice to voters during elections
Consider the following. You are an avid reader. You think, as someone who needs and wants to learn, that reading is one of the best ways to understand what is happening in the world. You start a book after hearing from others that this is a book that is especially important; it is one that you and everyone else should read from beginning to end.
While reading, you hear from people you don’t know, and they are giving you clues about how the book ends. Some go right ahead and tell you what the ending is. Critics of the book announce how the book should have ended. Still others tell you not to bother reading at all. They say, “It is a waste of time.” These messages are not just sent to you but to everyone in your community, region, state and nation, widely influencing who might be interested in the book. You become disgusted and question whether to continue reading.
Do you see where this is going? The above is a metaphor for the use of polls during campaign season and elections. I have a love/hate relationship with polls. I admit I like to know how the candidates are doing, especially the ones I support. However, I am dismayed when polls most frequently only share whether voters plan to support or oppose a candidate rather than sharing what candidates believe and what issues they support.
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As much as it is enticing to pay attention to polls, I try to ignore both polls and pollsters. If I am contacted by someone conducting a poll, I almost universally say no. I feel particularly uncomfortable offering my opinions about particular candidates and resist participating when it comes to which candidates I am supporting.
I didn’t always feel this way, but that was when polls were more about sharing information rather than being used by some, especially many in the media and in political parties, to actually predict or influence what the results will be.
There are several concerns I have regarding the influence of polls. Here are three that come to mind.
First, when the leading candidate or winner is predicted or forecasted in one race, particularly for candidates high up on the ballot, it can deter some people from voting at all if they feel that their vote for their chosen candidate will not really count. That hurts all those other races and candidates that are on the ballot since many people turn out for the candidates that are in high profile races.
Second, when winners or even the leaders in a race are predicted through polling, that can influence not just whether people actually vote but rather which candidates they will vote for. Polls can be like a sports event where there are odds. Some people, if they vote, like to go for the winner.
Third, and maybe most important, elections are a pure form of democracy. Voting is sacred and it should not be influenced by elements other than the candidates running, their positions on issues, and their potential effectiveness if elected.
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Recently, several writers and journalists have spoken out on this issue. Popular Information is a blog that often exposes important stories that are ignored by mainstream media. Its lead writer wrote a post titled “Political Media is Broken.” The writer notes: “Prediction-based coverage comes at a high cost because it crowds out the coverage that voters actually need. To make an informed decision, voters need to know the practical impact of voting for each candidate.” This includes where candidates stand on the issues voters care about. In recent elections and especially this year, that type of coverage was not nearly at the level it could have been.
Additionally, in a recent PBS NewsHour segment, American journalist Margaret Sullivan shared the problems with how the media covers elections. She said, “[o]ne thing I'm pretty sure we should stop doing is trying to predict the future because we're so bad at it.” She further states, “I think more than anything getting across to our audiences and to citizens [is] what the stakes of the elections are. [It] is the most important thing to focus on the issues more and the horse race less.”
While the media and pollsters paying less attention to polling is unlikely to change, I’m hoping the general population will step back and listen less to polls and more to the positions of candidates. That will be a victory for our democracy.
Ron Katz is an unaffiliated voter. He is a retired nonprofit professional and the administrator for the website WNC Social Justice Advocacy Guide. He also edits a nonpartisan Voting & Democracy Rights e-newsletter for WNC among other volunteer activities.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: The disservice of polls to the voters
