THE problem with online polls is that it can be difficult to prevent an orchestrated campaign to engineer a specific result.
Which is why Scotland on Sunday editor, Les Snowdon, has emailed users of the scotsman.com website that he will not be publishing the results of his paper’s latest poll.
“Last week,” he began, “we sent you a list of questions about the performance of the SNP government one year on from the party’s historic election victory, with a view to publishing the results in Scotland on Sunday.
“I would like to thank the 2,000 people who responded to the questionnaire and I would like to explain why I chose not to publish the results.”
He continued: “Unfortunately, less than 24 hours after e-mailing the questions to all scotsman.com registered users in Scotland, I was informed that a member of the SNP’s press team had circulated an e-mail encouraging members of his party to take part in the survey. In my view, this action jeopardised the integrity of the poll, and I took the decision not to run the results.
“I can only apologise, and hope that you will continue to support online polls run by this newspaper.”
