More Inaccurate Polling

There’s been some debate recently concerning political polling within New Zealand. Many are questioning discrepancies within the research and believe that we’re not seeing an accurate representation of public opinion. This was no more apparent than in last nights TV3 News item with the right wing Duncan Garner reporting on National's Kiwisaver cuts.

He presented a Reid Research poll showing 46% of New Zealander’s supporting cut’s to the Kiwisaver scheme, with exactly the same percentage supposedly being against the cuts. 7% did not know. Leaving 1% unaccounted for. You can view the report 10:26 into this broadcast. The report went on to say that only 25% of National and 75% of Labour voters don’t support the cuts. Most people should be able to spot the inconsistency within these figures.

Duncan Garner's own figures show the Reid research poll to be inaccurate. To compound their inaccurate polling, TV3 then released an article stating that: "Of the 1000 voters in the poll, 43% agreed with the cuts, while an equal number disagreed." It is typical of dishonest people to get caught up in their own lies. I’m sure TV3 can come up with some excuse for the mathematical contradictions, however they will probably not even bother to try and justify their misrepresentation.

Such discrepancies are not always so obvious though, with many false results being more cleverly presented to dupe the public into believing incorrect information. This discrepancy clearly shows a systemic failure in the way polling is being conducted and/or reported. There’s a serious credibility issue concerning polling and reporting that must be addressed. We cannot accept such inaccurate polling when there is much that relies on proper representation of public perception.

One person who is no stranger to misrepresenting information is David Farrar. He’s recently been granted a column in the NZ Herald to preach his particular form of fascism. Farrar is a trustee of the Free Speech Coalition, which recently undertook a court case in support of Internet child pornography. The Jackal’s contention is that such a person with obviously unbalanced and disingenuous viewpoints should not be granted more access to corrupt people’s minds.

With the closure of independent news organizations, the well-documented Mediaworks bribe and many news outlets succumbing to Nationals underhanded tactics to control their reporting, we’re likely to see an even more crooked representation of information from New Zealand’s mainstream media outlets. So much for democracy.