Public opinion surveys are unreliable because phone workers
who conduct the surveys sometimes fill out the questions
themselves to avoid penalties for failing to meet their
employers' quotas, according to an investigative report by
Arutz 10.
Survey results can have a major impact on public opinion, on
various political appointments and on voting patterns.
Arutz 10 checked several polling companies by planting
employees at the companies. After getting hired, they found
that other employees sometimes filled in the questions
themselves to avoid being penalized, and discovered instances
of lack of supervision at the country's leading market
research company, Dachaf, which is owned by Mina Tzemach.
The investigators found at another market research company,
Panorama, that employee screening is minimal and workers have
discovered they need not bother to call to get answers, since
their work goes unsupervised.
Dachaf denies the claims, saying the investigation lacks
solid evidence.
Recently, Dr. Aharon Fine, head of the Tatzpit Institute,
claimed there is a significant gap between election results
and survey findings. Since 75 percent of people called refuse
to participate in the survey, he said, respondents' opinions
do not accurately reflect those of the general population.
Fine believes that many of those who refuse lean toward right-
wing and religious parties, therefore they go under-
represented in the surveys. "The surveys are distorted and
the distortion will be revealed in the elections," he
says.
