Viewpoint – Polling, politics and the press
Deborah MattisonOpinion Leader Research
Twenty years ago I arrived on the political scene armed with my toolbox of market research techniques and set out to persuade a sceptical Labour Party of the value of listening to members of the public. Since then, like all main political parties, Labour has commissioned regular quantitative and qualitative research, and has learned that, used properly, these techniques can provide a unique insight into the views of different voting groups.
Labour's original scepticism came, of course, from the anxiety that research might be used (or...