opinion polls

• Opinion polls could help parties to assess public opinion towards policy
• Influencing people - 1992 showed growing Labour support so encouraged wavering voters to vote Conservative rather than risk Labour gov under Kinnock
• Influencing people - 2015 predicted a close race, allowed Cons to warn against a Lab-SNP coalition
• Inaccurate - Significantly wrong in 2014 and 2016 referendum and 2015 and 2017 elections
• Inaccurate - 2015, overestimated Labour support and underestimated elderly TO for Cons
• Inaccurate - 2017 gave Cons a 20 point lead over Labour which may have reduced Cons urgency to campaign. Ended up with barely 2% ahead
• Inaccurate - 2019 downplayed Conservative victory, ended up being a huge 80-seat majority