Getting it wrong
A Labour tilt
POLLSTERS are in the business of producing honest statistics. So it was something of a surprise when the pollsters' trade association claimed in a press release immediately after polling day that the polls had confounded their sceptics. For in truth the performance of the polls in the election simply served to underline the doubts about their accuracy that have never been fully dispelled ever since the industry infamously failed to anticipate the Conservatives' victory in 1992.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Getting it wrong”
From the June 16th 2001 edition
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