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Journalism of Courage
There is only one charitable thing that can be said about the discussion among the Election Commission and political parties on restraining opinion polls. It is that the instigators of this idea fail to distinguish between an exit poll and an opinion poll. An exit poll, because it asks voters leaving the polling booths, is generally much more accurate than opinion polls, which are about the way people plan to vote. Exit polls do have the potential to influence voting in a staggered poll process. Voters who are pretty sure of the way they wish to vote may still change their mind after learning the results of an exit poll, because they do not wish to 8220;waste8221; their vote on a loser. Even in this context, the answer is not to forbid exit polls but merely to prohibit polling agencies from publicising their findings until the last vote has been cast.
Opinion polls are another cup of tea altogether. As it happens, they have a history of being wrong in India because voters often choose not to tell the truth about their decision, or simply make up or change their mind at a later date. But what is the EC8217;s role in this, if not as offensive interference? If the implicit argument is that opinion polls influence voting behaviour, perhaps canvassing by political parties should be banned as well, because so does it. For that matter, the existence of parties itself is geared to the pernicious purpose of influencing voters8217; impressionable minds. The media similarly influences opinion. To the EC, this appeal: do away with the lot of them, or spare everyone this puerile debate.
