[WORD_ON_THE_WEB] 'Polling doesn't actually offer any useful insights'

The ban on polling ahead of the presidential election started Thursday.

The National Election Commission (NEC) explained that the ban is intended to prevent the bandwagon effect, in which people feel urged to back the candidate who’s more likely to win, or the opposing underdog effect.

In short, the ban exists to make sure that voters are not unfairly swayed.

Results of polls taken from Thursday through the end of the voting period cannot be included in news reports. Media outlets are only able to include results of past polls after clearly defining that data is from surveys taken before Thursday.

Early voting for the 20th presidential election is scheduled for Friday and Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The actual election falls on March 9. If a voter is diagnosed with Covid-19 or has to quarantine, they can vote from 6 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. on election day.

#case_by_case
“Public opinion polls? They should change the name to stay-at-home polls. Those at work don’t have time for these.”
“Polling doesn't actually offer any useful insights. Even the poll results from the same day fluctuate depending on who was commissioned to do it. It’s hard to believe any of it.”
“I think the survey method is faulty. The results aren’t trustworthy at all. The surveys feel like an annoyance.”

#who_is_answering?
“Korean public opinions polls need to improve in reliability and accuracy. Most average citizens think of survey calls as spam. More than 90 percent hang up straight away. Those who take the time to answer are avid fans.”
“As we saw at the parliamentary elections, poll results are always in favor of the conservatives. The reason being, busy people in their 30 to 50s can’t answer survey calls.”

#longer_ban_needed
“The ban on polling should be twice as long. We need the tension.”

BY LEE SI-YEOUNG, YOO JI-WOO [yoo.jiwoo@joongang.co.kr]