CANADA’S Federal Election is just days away. I made a promise online, that I would not engage in partisan politics online, and I intend to keep that promise. What I have to say is not directly political, though there are some political implications.
What annoys me the most about this election has to do with the involvement of the political polls, that supposedly give us a snapshot of what electors are thinking, and what would allegedly happen “if the election were held today”. The companies that conduct and publish these polls claim to be using scientific methods to conduct the polls, and some claim to be accurate within 1-2 percentage points.
Particularly annoying are those whose headlines say, ‘SHOCKING NEW RESULTS” or YOU WILL BE SHOCKED WHEN YOU SEE THESE RESULTS. Actually, the supposed results of polls headlined that way are not shocking at all. Day after day they show the same results with the same prediction of which party is allegedly leading.
Here is something that should make us think. A few months ago, in the American Presidential election, the polls were DEAD WRONG. All throughout that campaign the pollsters claimed that it was a “very tight race” or “it’s too close to call – it is a dead heat etc. ad nauseam. Election night – the only poll that matters – proved the pollsters wrong. It wasn’t that close after all, and the winner was not who some polls predicted it would be.
Another thing that should make us think is the number of different polls out there who tell contradicting results? Which poll is “more accurate”?
My personal conviction is that polls are propaganda tools designed to manipulate voters. And who controls them? And how do we know that they are treating the data that they supposedly collect honestly?
My advice to all Canadians is to IGNORE THE POLLS, and vote according to your convictions. But by all means, DO VOTE.
I close with a quote from a former Prime Minister of Canada, John G. Diefenbaker a.k.a. “Dief the Chief” : I’ve always been fond of dogs. And dogs are the only animals that know what to do with polls”.
Those are not my words, they are a direct quotation from the 1957 election. Maybe he was on to something.