The fallout for pollsters in the wake of last month’s federal election has been nothing short of seismic. In a sign that tolerance for getting predictions wrong is likely to spell bad news in future, Nine’s newspapers, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, last month severed ties with long time polling partners Ipsos.
And it’s not just polling companies, but experienced social researchers who are also going back to the drawing board after the election results failed to match the predictions. Here, social researcher Dr Rebecca Huntley, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, explains why it might be time to stop polling and to start listening.
