Ethical considerations regarding public opinion polling during election campaigns

Commercial public opinion polling is an increasingly important element in practically all elections in democratic countries around the world. Poll results and pollsters are relatively new and autonomous voices in our human communities. Here I try to connect such polling directly to morality and democratic processes. Several arguments have been and might be used for and against banning such polling during elections, i.e., for and against effectively silencing these voices. I present the arguments on both sides of this issue, and try to show that there are reasonable responses to all the arguments in favour of banning polls. Then I review some proposed Canadian legislation concerning banning polls and, alternatively, requiring disclosure of methodological features of polls. Finally, I offer a model set of disclosure standards for the publication of poll results during election campaigns.Alex Michalos is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Business Ethics, the Editor of Social Indicators Research and the author of 13 books and over 5 dozen articles. His five volume North American Social Report received the 1984 Canadian Secretary of State's Award for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Studies in the field of Canadian Studies. Volume One of his four volume Global Report on Student Well-Being has recently been released by Springer-Verlag.An earlier and longer version of this paper was written for and presented to the Canadian Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing in June 1990.