“Polls reflect what interests the media that commissions them” | EUROtoday

Co-author of Sociology of public opinion (PUF, 2020) and Popular votes! The social bases of electoral polarization in 2017 (Ed. du Croquant, 2022), sociologist Hugo Touzet has simply printed Produce the opinion. An investigation into the work of pollsters (Ed. of EHESS, 312 pages, 17 euros). To write this new guide, he spent a number of months investigating in a polling institute.

You are the primary researcher to have entered the “black box” of polling institutes. Was entry tough?

I used to be fortunate: the director of the Opinion division of an institute, considering my work, agreed for me to watch the polling trade “from the inside”. But, in change, I needed to assist to the division, which was missing in manpower. The issue was that once I arrived, my colleagues have been suspicious: my entry to the pc community was restricted, and jokes have been being made about me – “Be careful, he’s a spy,” I may hear.

If no sociologist has but crossed the brink of an institute, it’s for one cause: pollsters take a dim view of us. Fortunately, the space from the start progressively light. Both as a result of we had related profiles (age, educational background, pursuits) and since I actively participated within the lifetime of the division.

Has this immersion modified your view of pollsters?

Yes. Contrary to sure preconceived concepts, pollsters wish to produce what they name “beautiful polls”, scientifically sturdy. They are very certified. I despatched a questionnaire to the Opinion departments of eight institutes: 33% of respondents graduated from an Institute of Political Studies, 59% from a college, together with a big proportion of programs within the humanities and social sciences. They are due to this fact conscious of the methodological criticisms which are addressed to their work. However, in actuality, they often must resort to doing “dirty work”, that’s to say polls of poor high quality. And for good cause: their good will comes up towards the business constraints of a really aggressive world. We should not neglect that polling institutes are personal corporations.

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