A Review of Current Issues and Challenges in Political Opinion Polling

The essay is a critical review of recent books addressing a variety of issues relating to opinion polling, or – more precisely – to their role in the problematic triangular relationship linking survey research, the media, and politics. The themes explored include the use of polls as predictions, the regulation of polls (including bans on the publication of pre-election poll findings), the impact of exposure to poll results on voting behaviour, new methodological challenges facing the survey research sector, and the relevance of opinion polling in the digital age