By Andy Morris, Research Director of Angus Reid Public Opinion’s UK practice

Today, The Economist has released the results of a ground breaking poll from Angus Reid Public Opinion, the public affairs practice of Vision Critical. For the first time in Britain—and only the second time anywhere in the world—we have conducted a voting intention poll by showing voters the ballot as they will see it in their constituency. Names and parties appear in an online question with the respondent marking a cross by the candidate that they intend to support.

This is Real Ballot™, which had never before been used in a nationwide election. Last year’s election in the Canadian province of British Columbia marked the only previous occasion that this method has been utilized. At the time, Angus Reid pioneered the technique which successfully predicted that election more accurately than the four other pollsters relying on old fashioned methods.

Why have we done this?

The power of the Internet has unleashed new, better ways of conducting research across all spheres; whether it be consumer research or public opinion polling. We believe that as researchers it is our duty to harness that power.

Research is at its best and most accurate when placing people in context. When doing new product research, rather than just asking whether people would buy the product we can create a mocked-up interactive shop so that they can choose whether or not to buy the product in the context of being in a shop and having other products around it. When testing a television advert, we can show the clip and get people to click on what they are feeling in real time.

Now, when conducting a voting intention poll, we can show voters the ballot that they will see in their constituency. We can place the voter in the context of the polling station. This creates a virtual reality scenario. When people cast a ballot, they are not considering the four choices that they are provided and then say ‘Labour’ to somebody on the phone. They place an “X” on a piece of paper showing the names and parties of the five to ten candidates in their constituency.

To see how we have replicated this online click here:
https://www.springboarduk.com/R.aspx?a=316

At Angus Reid Public Opinion and Vision Critical, we strive for innovation. We have used interactive technology to design the best research for the digital age. You will read in The Economist how this has been applied to the world of voting intention polling. We will use the same method this time next week to make our final eve of election ‘call’. Welcome to the future of political polling.