Polling in Developing Democracies — The Case of the Philippines

Abstract

Public opinion polling is relatively new in the Philippines, but becoming more prominent in the public arena as reputable survey firms run high-profile pre-election surveys. In the past 5 elections an “exit poll” has been conducted with the support of ABS-CBN, the biggest media network in the Philippines. Such public-opinion polls enable voters to express their views and, in the process, to acquire power with the information these polls bring. Pre-election polls and exit poll surveys done by reputable survey establishments act as safeguards by quickly establishing probable winners, thus discouraging unscrupulous politicians from committing election fraud. This chapter will describe the data collection process and the challenges encountered in conducting public-opinion polls in the Philippines, a developing democracy with a challenging geography and widespread corruption.