Surveys doing more harm than good

I saw Sen. Richard Gordon in the news yesterday commenting about surveys misleading the public to consider only the top presidentiables. Gordon said he will be filing a case on the survey companies for allegedly misleading the public’s mindset into thinking that those in the top positions were the most probable to win the presidential race. He said it was an injustice to those in the bottom half of the survey since those who commissioned the companies were most likely the top presidentiables.

Survey companies are supposed to gauge the public’s thoughts on the presidentiables, but I also believe that Gordon has a point. Showing surveys of the leading presidentiables every week would eventually lead the voters to vote for those in the top of the list.

Nobody wants to waste their votes, and with the surveys showing that presidentiables like Gordon in the lower half of the tier, even his supporters would eventually shift their mindset to vote for those capable to win. These survey companies were shaping the public’s mindset since showing the leading candidates, not to mention the media’s air time for those in the lead, will eventually change the voter’s thoughts to the leading candidate.

While I do agree that surveys are important to gauge the public’s interests, doing the surveys almost per week, not to mention making the commissioner anonymous, would eventually affect voter’s turnout. Instead of being a tool of the public, it becomes a political tool benefiting those in the lead.

Since we do not know how the surveys were conducted, what areas were covered or what type of questions were asked, we can only trust the survey’s credibility based on their results. Even if the survey companies did say their methodologies are academic based, how the questions were constructed will affect the voter’s mindset.

Perhaps, survey companies should limit their findings in order to not affect the public’s votes. They should also reveal the commissioner of the survey, since by doing so will give the public a concept of fair survey results.

We also shouldn’t rely entirely on surveys, but instead make our own decisions on who is fit for the presidency. A simple background check will be helpful for choosing the right candidate. We must vote for those who are fit to run, not because of popularity, but because of their ability. It doesn’t necessarily mean those in the lead will eventually win the presidency, if we won’t shy away and be swayed by the surveys, even those in the lower tier can become the next president.