{"id":4086,"date":"2015-05-07T08:00:03","date_gmt":"2015-05-07T07:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=4086"},"modified":"2015-05-08T12:37:26","modified_gmt":"2015-05-08T11:37:26","slug":"exit-polls-move-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=4086","title":{"rendered":"Exit polls? Move over"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Swingometers. Margins of error. Opinion Polls. Exit polls.<\/p>\n

 
\nAren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you sick them? If not yet, then you will be.<\/p>\n

 
\nWhat I learned from opinion polls is don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t rely on them. Work until you get the last Labour voter into the booth to put their cross on the ballot paper.<\/p>\n

 
\nYou\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll hear the exit polls shortly after 10 at night, when polls have closed. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t trust them either.<\/p>\n

 
\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve not trusted them since polling day 1992. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d worked for months in the dark rabbit warren of Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Walworth Road HQ from where we had fought ‘The Battle of Jennifer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ear’.<\/p>\n

 
\nAll the opinion polls up to that day were predicting a Labour victory, albeit a narrow one. That was the case when I turned up at 5pm on polling day: a tight Labour victory predicted.<\/p>\n

 
\nBy 8pm, before polls had closed, Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own internal polling brought us down to earth with a bump. It was predicting the Tories would win by seven \u00c2\u00a0seats.<\/p>\n

 
\nThen there were two TV \u00e2\u20ac\u015bexit\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 polls announced just after polls closed. These polls asked actual voters how they had voted after they had voted.<\/p>\n

 
\nBoth exit polls suggested a hung parliament, with Labour being the largest party. Those of us on the inside were not fooled by that, although we kept up the front with reporters.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe later internal polling that day \u00e2\u20ac\u201c before the TV exit polls were announced \u00e2\u20ac\u201c suggested the Tories would have a 14 seat majority. Although we all felt like crying, we kept up the front.<\/p>\n

 
\nHow Bryan Gould\u00e2\u20ac\u201c he was deputy leader and main media front man on the day – maintained his composure throughout was stunning to watch. You would never now he was gutted inside.<\/p>\n

 
\nIn the end, despite net Labour gains of 42 seats, the Tories held on to secure a majority of 21 seats.<\/p>\n

 
\nFast forward to 1997. The Labour workplace for the last few months has been Millbank Tower, focusing on regional broadcasters and regional print media.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe opinion polls are suggesting a Labour victory. On polling day, my work started at 10.30 at night.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Labour, which had gone to sleep a bit in the last few days before 1992 polling day, was now working to the wire and beyond.<\/p>\n

 
\nI took a call from a colleague at Millbank on my mobile at Euston station just after 10 pm. She was in tears and all I could make out was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe exit polls\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 before I lost signal.<\/p>\n

 
\nMy first thought was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnot again\u00e2\u20ac\u0165. It was only when I got to Millbank that I realised the exit poll was favourable.<\/p>\n

 
\nBut I still didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t trust it. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d just finished work and was at the election night party on the South Bank. It was about 3 am and I had knelt down to watch the Portillo result on a big screen.<\/p>\n

 
\nYou can see our outburst of relief and joy when Portillo lost. If they show it again, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m the one in the glasses kneeling down at the front giving the thumbs down. It was only then that I knew Labour would form the next government.<\/p>\n

 
\nPush opinion polls and exit polls aside. The only poll that matters is where actual voters put their cross.<\/p>\n

 
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not over, to adjust a phrase, until the voters sing. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hope they sing for us.<\/p>\n

 
\nBy Friday, there may be another battle on our hands.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Swingometers. Margins of error. Opinion Polls. Exit polls.   Aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you sick them? If not yet, then you will be.   What I learned from opinion polls is don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t rely on them. Work until you get the last Labour voter into the booth to put their cross on the ballot paper.   You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll hear the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[224,210],"wps_subtitle":"Only poll that counts is where voters place cross ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4086"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4086"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4097,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4086\/revisions\/4097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}