OPINION

Polls’ lost credibility

The failure of most public opinion polls in the runup to Sunday’s local elections to effectively predict the outcome, as well as the mistakes seen in the initial exit poll regarding who was ahead and where, have deepened citizens’ skepticism toward what they see as just another part of the country’s flawed political system.

It is clear that some of the pollsters in the period prior to the elections were doing their job while wearing blinders. Others may have had some hidden motive in skewing the picture or perhaps, on a more simplistic level, the majority of the people in the field were just not acting professionally.

The people are perfectly justified in being suspicious about such predictions because it is not the first time that they have been way off the mark.

Maybe Sunday’s fiasco shows that it is time for the pollsters’ profession to set some rules and standards that will allow the sector to regain some of its lost credibility.

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