Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Pew Polls

There are a lot of problems with Western polls that are conducted in the Middle East. I find that the ones that are conducted by Zogby to be more accurate: much more than Gallup or Pew. I was looking at the latest Pew poll conducted in Lebanon. It just does not make sense. I mean, in the last parliamentary elections, we clearly see that Hariri gets some 80 % of support among Sunnis in Beirut, and some 70 to 75 % of support among Sunnis in Sidon or Tripoli (and even in some areas of Biqa`). But in the Pew Poll, it shows Hariri goals capturing support of more than 95 % of Sunnis. What happens with those polls is this (among other problems I have discussed here before): the big Western polling firms, contract the polls to local firms, and most are pro-Hariri.