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Leading pollster dumps October survey because Chileans preferred not to reply

Friday, November 9th 2012 - 06:19 UTC
Full article 8 comments
President Piñera is going from a chain of political setbacks President Piñera is going from a chain of political setbacks

One of Chile’s leading pollsters Adimark GfK announced on Thursday it would not be publishing the political public opinion poll for the month of October because of the high percentage of “no reply” during interviews.

The October ‘political’ poll refers to an assessment of the performance of the government, support, and positive and negative image of the main presidential hopefuls.

In half page ads in the Chilean media, Adimark explained that “as it is known October was a month of elections and despite the fact the poll was taken during that month, as has been usual, our internal quality control determined an unusually high percentage of ‘no reply’ from the interviews”.

Because of this Adimark pointed out that “this situation has prompted us to discard these results”, adding that the monthly polls will resume as soon as possible.

Last month Chile held municipal elections and for the first time the ‘voluntary vote’ system (with automatic registration in the voting roll) was implemented, very much sponsored by the administration of President Sebastian Piñera.

However and as was anticipated by political analysts the new system failed dismally with an abstention rate of over 60%, besides the fact that the ruling coalition suffered a humiliating defeat, probably anticipating that next year the left wing coalition with former president Michelle Bachelet would be returning to rule Chile.

Many voters have never warmed up to billionaire businessman Piñera, whose presidential image has been battered by months of protests for free and improved education, tougher environmental laws and expanded indigenous rights.

“This is a rejection of Piñera as a person and the promises of the Alianza (conservative coalition) that weren’t fulfilled. People expected improved standards of living,” said Ricardo Israel, a political analyst at Chile’s Universidad Autonoma.

Four years ago the Alianza managed to conquer 40.5% of the municipal vote and the ruling Concertación 38%, anticipating the presidential outcome and Piñera’s victory. This time opposition Concertación garnered 43% of the vote and the ruling Alianza, 37%.

 

Categories: Politics, Latin America.

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  • Guzz

    *sniff sniff*
    You lot smell that?
    That the smell of a massive win for Bachelet :)

    Nov 09th, 2012 - 06:30 am 0
  • British_Kirchnerist

    Embarassing, I've never heard of this happening before

    #1 =)

    Nov 09th, 2012 - 12:51 pm 0
  • Condorito

    What are you two on about?
    It has nothing to do with who will win the next election. The pollster didn’t achieve a large enough sample to make the poll valid.
    It is not surprising, they do the polling by phone, which I find very annoying. I always tell them I am too busy. Maybe I should post less on MP and answer more polls.

    Bachelet still hasn’t announced her intention to run. If she doesn’t the Concertacion will struggle to find a strong enough candidate to unite the coalition.

    As a matter of curiosity, why do two socialists like yourselves have so much admiration for a leader who stuck so rigidly to the strict fiscal model and presided over a period that saw increased inequality. I am fine with a Bachelet comeback, but why are you not supporting a candidate from one of the leftist parties?

    Nov 09th, 2012 - 01:16 pm 0
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