The Regulation of Pre-election Polls: A Citizen’s Perspective

Abstract

The number of legislations around the world restricting the use and publication of pre-election polls during election campaigns is on the rise. However, we do not have a good sense of the extent to which citizens are against the publication of pre-election polls and what factors drive support or opposition for their regulation. In this research note, we tackle these issues using data from the 2019 Canadian Election Study. Our findings show that citizens are quite divided on whether polls should be banned during the last week of the campaign. Moreover, contrary to our expectations, we find almost no evidence of partisan effects in citizens’ opinions about the regulation of polls. We interpret these findings as good news for democracy as citizens, at least in some contexts, do not seem to rely on partisan considerations when it comes to the regulation of political information.