This past week has been another smelly one for the pollsters. The BCNDP is in large part blaming their shit-kicking on the pollsters, a lot like Alberta's Wild Rose Party did after their recent shit-kicking. Both claim that their supporters were seduced into complacency by the inaccuracy of the polls. And it probably is true because both the NDP + WRP acted arrogantly like they had it in the bag. Apparently all those impressive poll numbers convinced NDP + WRP supporters it was okay to skip voting as long as they remembered to “like” their candidate on Facebook.
Unlike Alberta though only 52% of eligible voters showed up to vote in La La Land further allowing the NDP to blame their own supporters. Only one group of pollsters got it right. BC Liberal Party polling, based on only listed land lines, was dead on accurate. Older citizens, nearly all voting the 'fascist' cause, have land lines while young folks nearly all supporting the 'progressive' causes, use cell phones and the Internet but, apparently do not vote.
Winston Churchill once famously said, “The biggest argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” He got it slightly wrong., the best argument against democracy would be a five-minute conversation with the average political party executive IMO. Certainly the party brain trusts must realize the polls, and polling companies, are multimillion dollar media companies whose god-like powers are derived from the fact that the media needs fantastic headlines to sell their ads. No one dares question the methodology or the numbers until the actual voting results come in. Then almost everyone remembers that polls, and polling companies can't be trusted. That how questions are framed and who is asked them determines the answers. That pollsters find the answers they're looking for.
Think about it. Do you respond to an unknown caller or immediately hang up when you don't recognize the voice? If you have call display, do you even answer calls from unknown numbers? Do you talk to them any longer than it takes to yell a couple of expletives? Do you fill in online surveys? Nobody i know does. Who has the time for this stuff in a tilt-a-whirl world?
There are lessons to be learned by the BCNDP from all this and hopefully they'll get beyond their current stage of denial and take responsibility for their own mistakes. Hopefully they'll remember next time that polling companies make a living predicting the sales of shampoos and deodorants so it's no mystery when their results turn out odoriferous? The BCNDP would be well advised to learn from their mistakes and stop blaming others. To remember the old adage "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." And to reflect on what happens if/when a third shaming happens.
