Online media

Question 1

Why are opinion polls used more frequently than traditional polls?

Answer 1

They can be conducted with greater frequency and are cheaper to run

Question 2

What are blogs?

Answer 2

Provide sources for information and in-depth discussion on political issues

Question 3

What influence does Twitter have on politics?

Answer 3

Can provide an informal poll to assess the popularity of an issue or the performance of indvidual politicians. It can also be a forum for political debate

Question 4

How is campaign performed online?

Answer 4

Can use viral videos, social media and other tools to test ideas and messages before committing to traditional media, and increasing as a means of sending out targeted data. They might also use it as an unregulated form of campaign to generate fake news

Question 5

How are websites used?

Answer 5

Parties and politicians have their own websites, which provides a means for the government to find out about policies, raise issues and donate to the party

Question 6

How is research/data used?

Answer 6

Parties pay consulting firms for information and data about voters to help target their message. Companies do this by processing data sold by social media companies

Question 7

What is an opinion poll?

Answer 7

A survey of public opinion from a sample of the population at a given moment. They are often used to predict the expected results of an election

Question 8

Since when has the use of opinion polls started to increase?

Answer 8

The 1970s

Question 9

Give some examples of who may carry out an opinion poll

Answer 9

• Parties
• Think tanks
• The media
• Interested individuals

Question 10

What are opinion polls often used to test?

Answer 10

Key policies, leadership performance and the success of a campaign

Question 11

What is the consequence of a poorly executed opinion poll?

Answer 11

They may involve misleading questions or unrepresentative samples. This means they will badly misrepresent public opinion and the way people vote

Question 12

What did opinion polls suggest about the 2015 election?

Answer 12

That the conservatives and labour were in a tight race that may lead to a hung parliament

Question 13

What opinion polls about the 2015 general election lead the media to do?

Answer 13

Speculate about the possibility of a Miliband government and greater scrutiny of labour as a party of government, rather than focusing on the track record of the coalition government

Question 14

What opinion polls lead to speculation labour may do in 2015?

Answer 14

Join in coalition with the SNP

Question 15

What opinion polls lead to speculation the conservatives may do in 2015?

Answer 15

join in coalition with UKIP

Question 16

What did many voters do in 2015 to prevent the potential Labour-SNP coalition?

Answer 16

Voted for the conservatives instead of UKIP

Question 17

What did many liberal democrat voters do in 2015?

Answer 17

Voted for the conservatives as they were the lesser of the evils of the Labour, UKIP and the SNP

Question 18

What did the fear of a labour victory lead many more passive tory supporters to do?

Answer 18

Turnout to vote

Question 19

What effect did the opinion polls probably have on labour votes?

Answer 19

The figures may have been depressed, as supporters expected them to win

Question 20

What effect did the opinion polls probably have on labour votes?

Answer 20

The figures may have been depressed, as supporters expected them to win

Question 21

What did the 2015 polls likely do for smaller parties?

Answer 21

They probably made people more likely to vote for UKIP and the SNP as they had a viable chance of becoming a part of government