Most of the big pollsters do regular surveys of journalistic opinion, usually funded by large companies who apparently care what we think.
Without exception, they are teeth grindingly dull affairs for all involved. No hack ever says: oh great, I’ve got the meeting with that pollster later — as thankful as we are for the change we are paid for our time.
(As an aside, YouGov is seriously taking the michael with its present offer of £15 for a survey. £15? Have a word with yourselves.)
Anyway, the main problem with the surveys is that they don’t really get to what we actually think.
An honest answer to every single question asked would be: I reject the premise. I just don’t think like that.
But that would make for a long interview, so we wing it, offering opinions we probably don’t have on corporate governance or whatever it is.
Last week one of the questions was: which of these named banks do you most admire?
Admire? A bank? Do be serious.
