More on opinion polls. But should there be any more?

One writer consider an array of the latest polls, and another writes that he's had enough of them

In the Guardian last Saturday there was a feature by Peter Walker summarising a range of possible outcomes for the Conservatives at the forthcoming election, but just two days later in an opinion piece John Harris questions whether opinion polls are good for democracy.

Peter Walker's piece is here. It's a useful cut out and keep to see how accurate the different polling companies were with less than three weeks of the GE24 campaign to run. But John Harris asks in an opinion piece whether reducing the outcome of an election to essentially predicting the outcome of a horse race actually drowns out talk of the main issues that voters should be considering when deciding how to vote. It's well worth a read, and the link is here and there are some suggested activities related to the article here...

Ideas for using the article

1. Ask students to share their thoughts on the role of the media in shaping public opinion during election campaigns. Encourage them to discuss how the media's focus on opinion polls and predictions can potentially influence voter behavior and engagement.

2. Divide the class into small groups and assign each group a specific aspect of the text, such as the discussion of polling methods, the potential consequences of a "cognitively dissonant big Labour win," or the importance of on-the-ground reporting. Have the groups discuss and present their analysis of how these elements relate to the broader theme of the article.

3. Present students with a selection of quotes from the text, such as "We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning," or "Predictions of a red 'supermajority' offer the Tories one last hope of shoring up their vote." Ask students to write a short response discussing the significance of these quotes and how they relate to the article's central arguments.