Can The SWS Survey Accurately Measure the ‘Pulse’ of the People?

Election time again and political candidates are doing whatever they can to ‘look good’ on surveys. I’ve always wondered how accurate are these SWS surveys and can they really measure the ‘pulse’ of the people?

I read an article in Inquirer. One specific SWS survey covered 2,100 registered voters. So the question is, can a pool of 2,100 survey respondents provide a really good measure? I don’t know but in my humble opinion, I don’t think so. I think we need to have much more respondents than that and probably factor in some of the areas where certain candidates are known to do well on certain provinces, or those who can get “mass votes” like the ones from Iglesia ni Cristo or other groups of people who vote solidly.

The “benefits” of surveys

I think one of the “benefits” of surveys for candidates, (if you can even call it a benefit) is that it can “convince” people who are rooting for candidates at the bottom of the survey to “jump ship” and vote for a candidate who ranks pretty well. I guess there are some people who will “vote” for a candidate with a better chance of winning than vote for a losing candidate. Undecided voters can also be enticed to vote for the “popular”. Such “swing votes” are a huge part of the political game and can greatly affect the outcome of an election.

The “Thinking Filipino”

This 2010, I believe is the year of the “Thinking Filipino”. With traditional media/internet/ and other sources, more and more Filipino voters are becoming aware of what’s happening in our country. Even students are better informed about the candidates, their achievements, and their political platforms. I say vote for the candidate that your heart and conscience tells you to vote, regardless of what any survey says.

Here are some of the people’s actual reactions and thoughts about these surveys. These are taken from facebook.