MOTION 1 OPP

THW BAN ALL FORMS OF ELECTION RELATED POLLS, FORECASTS &

OPINION POLLS
CURIOSITY KILLS THE CAT BUT SATISFACTION BRINGS IT BACK
Good morning ladies and gentlemen, today I will be the 4th
speaker on team opposition here to strongly oppose the motion THW
ban all forms of election related polls, forecasts and opinion polls.
You might be wondering why I started off my speech with such a
seemingly irrelevant proverb.
To answer that, let me ask you this question. What do you think
would happen if something gets banned?
Now I’m not talking about just polls and forecasts, but anything
in general like drugs, weapons or any other illegal article you can think
off. Now I’m definitely no ban expert, but I can guarantee you that it
won’t just disappear.
In fact, their demand increases!!!! That’s the same reason why
the price of illegal substances is so high.
Likewise, my first argument today is that the banning of election
polls of reliable sources (which are available atm) would cause the
inevitable rise of black markets and illegal sources of information
regarding such polls.
Nothing will stop the curiosity of a loyal political party supporter
and the citizens of the country.
And I wouldn’t blame them, they have the right (as citizens) to
know what’s going on in their country.
 Over the last few elections in America, it has proved that in a
week without polls, the media will turn to whatever omens or signs
that are closest to hand.
These included Twitter, rally attendance, and even in the case of
US journalist Peggy Noonan, the number of Mitt Romney lawn signs
they had recently walked past.

Some party campaigns in the US even use “private polling” in bye

elections when official polling is scarce.

Now these rise of these types of black markets are no stranger to

our generation.
In fact, at present, there is a prospering black market regarding the
sale of personal information, so it wouldn’t be hard for them to make
black markets for opinion polls either.
So what happens when these black markets for forecasts and
political surveys arise? The information on them would be
catastrophically inaccurate.
This is because, the conditions of collecting the data would be
very discreet and secretive.
It also wouldn’t represent a vast majority of the country, but only
a few of those who are willing to take part in such “forbidden” surveys.
These surveys might even be ridiculously biased or take place on
an unreliable platform like the internet.
Similarly, private entities can discreetly commission private polls
with a hidden agenda or bias.
 Now what would happen to the fate of the country if the
bandwagon effect takes place in this scenario?
All the citizens who aren’t sure on who to vote for would vote for
the seeming majority, which in this case would be extremely bias and
inaccurate.
This would adversely affect the fate of the government in
comparison to those who would vote for the favoured party from a
more reliable source like the ones we have today (BBC & CNN).
For example, the British Polling Council is a highly esteemed
association which publishes opinion polls in Britain.
They report their sampling sizes, their exact modes and dates of
interviews and surveys, the actual wording of questions asked and most
importantly, the margin we must allow in the case of possible sampling
error.
This brings me to my next argument, the fact that banning these
polls are impractical and innefective in today’s day and age.
Back in the 1990’s, when the Baroness was speaker, the French
did have a week long pre-election day ban on the publication of polls.
But even in that Jurassic age of the internet, they had difficulty
enforcing it with Swiss newspapers and websites publishing illicit poll
results that were readily accessible along the border.
Now if the circulation of poll results took place over the internet
around 30 years ago, why won’t it happen now?
In-fact now, these surveys take place all over social media and are
known to be extremely unreliable, bias and inaccurate.
 Finally, I’d like to emphasize on the fact that it is the fundamental
right of the citizen to vote however they want to and base their vote on
whatever criteria they choose to do so.
These polls are a vital part of the election culture nowadays and
they help us not waste our votes on candidates we know won’t win.

So I’d like to conclude by saying that by banning polls, we are

essentially not stopping the circulation of the forecasts but instead
victimizing our citizens for their right to know what’s happening in their
government and giving them access to far more unreliable and biased
sources of information.
All in All, I strongly believe that A BAN IS A REMEDY WORSE THAN
THE DISEASE IS SEEKS TO CURE.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!