SO HOW WELL DID THEY DO - THE POLLS IN THE 1997 ELECTION

This article undertakes an initial evaluation of the performance of th e opinion polls in the 1997 Election. Although widely regarded as a su ccessful election for the industry, in sharp contrast to 1992, there w ere important differences between the figures produced by the various companies. These differences provide us with important clues as to the relative effectiveness of the various methods that were used. They su ggest that many of the more radical changes that were made to polling methods in response to the problems encountered in 1992 were successfu l and that the industry will need to continue to experiment and innova te before the next election.