Monthly Archives: November 2019

Principal Changes in the Conduct and Reporting of Polls in the 2019 General Election

This document briefly summarises the main differences between the way in which member companies are conducting their polls in the latter stages of the 2019 election and the way they did so in 2017. Details of the changes that companies made in 2017 are available at How Have The Polls Changed Since 2015?. For further details and analysis of the methodology of the polls see BPC Inquiry Report.

John Curtice

BMG

The company only published one Britain-wide poll in 2017; otherwise it conducted private polls for the Labour Party.

That one published poll was a mixed-mode online and telephone poll. The company’s polls in this campaign are likely to be conducted exclusively using an online methodology.

As in 2017 data are weighted in accordance with the known levels of electoral registration among key demographic groups. However, in contrast to 2017 the data are no longer weighted by reported probability of voting or whether or not the respondent voted at the last election.

Respondents are being invited to state a vote intention from only among the parties standing in their constituency.

Deltapoll

This is the first general election to be covered by the company. Details of its methodology can be found at Deltapoll Methodology.

ICM

Data are no longer weighted according to a pre-determined level of turnout by demographic group

A 0-10 turnout scale is now used to weight the data rather than a 1-10 scale.

The voting preference of those who say they do not know how they would vote or who refuse to say how they would do so are no longer imputed on the basis of their past vote.

Data are weighted by 2016 EU referendum vote as well as 2017 general election vote.

Respondents are being invited to state a vote intention from only among the parties standing in their constituency.

Ipsos MORI

Data are no longer being weighted to match the ratios of turnout by age and tenure as recorded by the 2015 British Election Study.

Child in household is no longer used as a weight as it was in 2017, while ethnicity has been added as a weight.

Respondents who say they will vote for the Brexit Party, Liberal Democrats, Greens or Plaid Cymru are invited to state for which party they would vote if their preferred party is not standing in their constituency – and are allocated to that party if their preferred party is not standing locally.

Kantar

Weighting of the data by probability of voting is based on the respondent’s stated likelihood of voting, their age, and whether they voted in 2017, modelled using data collected by the company after the 2017 election (rather than 2015).

Weighting of the data by past vote takes into account of estimates of differential recall error by party and, in particular, a higher tendency for those who vote Labour in 2017 to fail to report that they have done so.

In similar vein to what was done in respect of those saying they were voting UKIP or Green in 2017, respondents are invited to state for which party they would vote if their preferred party is not standing in their constituency – and are allocated to that party if their preferred party is not standing locally.

Opinium

Respondents are being invited to state a vote intention from only among the parties standing in their constituency.

ORB

The company has so far only conducted one poll of vote intentions, at the very beginning of the campaign.

Panelbase

Respondents are invited to state for which party they would vote if their preferred party is not standing in their constituency – and are allocated to that party if their preferred party is not standing locally.

Savanta ComRes

Data are no longer being weighted by the voter turnout model that was used in 2017

Future polls will invite respondents to choose from among the parties standing in their constituency.

Survation

Polls are now only being conducted by phone, using the same approach as in 2017.

Data are weighted, inter alia, by 2019 European Parliament election vote.

As in 2017, respondents are being invited to state a vote intention from only among the named candidates standing in their constituency.

YouGov

There has been a slight reduction in the downweight that is applied to those who did not vote at the last election.

Respondents are being invited to state a vote intention from only among the candidates standing in their constituency.

Interpreting Polls and Election Data

IMPRESS, the UK’s independent press regulator, and the Market Research Society have published a consultation on guidance for journalists reporting on opinion polls.

Interpreting polls and election data – guidance for media and journalists

Comments and feedback on this draft guidance are invited until 20 November.

The MRS web page also provides access to a range of other resources to support journalists and the media in their reporting of opinion poll data.