Beside the point
Part of the double-talk in which the two major political parties engage, as part of their exchange of roles from government to opposition and back again, pertains to their view of the importance of opinion polls. When in government, and subject to the unavoidable attrition of power, they claim that polls simply reflect trends and are just tools for further study. When in opposition, they take poll results at face value and regard them in much in the same way as an actual election result. They overemphasize the data that favor their own party, such as «most suitable for prime minister,» and dismiss the more negative «declared intention to vote.» This is what happened with this week’s GPO poll, which showed the gap between the ruling New Democracy party and opposition PASOK had narrowed to less than one percentage point. Clever analyses and observations by cadres of both parties – chiefly those who frequent television talk shows – showed yet again that polls are only used as weapons in a cheap and barely convincing political propaganda thrust. Assuming these polls are free of influence or bias, we take it in good faith that they provide useful information for the parties and for our political system. What is important about the GPO poll is not the 0.8 percent difference between ND and PASOK, but the 59.2 percent who were critical of the government and the 62 percent who criticized PASOK. And then there is the considerable rise in popularity of the two extreme ends of the political spectrum: the Communist Party of Greece (to 7 percent) and the extreme rightist LAOS party (to 4.8 percent). Of course, the above is of little concern to the two parties’ leadership organizations, even though both ND and PASOK have been responsible for establishing and maintaining the current system and are equally to blame for Greeks’ lack of faith in them.
