Recent elections in the United States and United Kingdom have been characterised as a challenge to the reliability of public opinion polling. Many research firms predicted Hillary Clinton to win the White House, while 'Remain' was believed to be the choice of most UK voters, and Jeremy Corbyn was thought to be thrashed at this year’s British election. In these cases, not all the poll results were accurate.
Does this mean polling is a dead-end for understanding public opinion, and what does this mean for politics? Are new survey techniques the answer to gauging the mood of voters? Is the situation with polling in the United States and United Kingdom comparable or different to what is happening in Australia?
At this public event, the ABC's Annabel Crabb and the United States Studies Centre's CEO and polling expert Professor Simon Jackman appeared in conversation with the founder and CEO of innovative global survey company YouGov, Stephan Shakespeare. Together they discussed what innovations are being used to keep polling accurate and relevant to understanding politics in the future.
