In Defense of Public Election Polling: Responding to the Call for a Ban During Elections

Recently, Ontario's Chief Electoral Officer has called for election polls to be banned in the run up to the election. Do polls distort election outcomes or are they just another source of information?

Be it resolved: Election polls should be banned one week before voting day.

I often start the second week of my public opinion and polling class in the Clayton H. Riddell Program in Political Management by asking students to debate this proposition.

Would elections and democracy be better if polls were banned entirely or in the run-up to an election?

Today…