Headlines (News Releases)
WLU
Laurier institute launches interactive Ontario Election Monitor website
Communications, Public Affairs & Marketing
Sep 5/07| For Immediate Release
| Contact: | Dr. Barry Kay |
| or | Dr. Steven Brown |
WATERLOO — A team of political scientists at Wilfrid Laurier University has launched an interactive website that is sure to interest reporters, pollsters and other “campaign junkies” who will be following the lead-up to next month’s Ontario provincial election.
The Ontario Election Monitor (www.wlu.ca/lispop/provblog) will include a digest of polls and media coverage, past election results, a Seat Calculator that will translate recent polls into a seat projection, and an election blog featuring commentary by faculty and visitors.
“We’d like it to become a must-visit website for campaign junkies,” says Dr. Steven Brown, director of the Laurier Institute of Public Opinion and Policy (LISPOP). “We’d also like pollsters themselves to weigh-in to give it a broader profile.”
The website’s interactive technology allows visitors to make their own seat projection for the October 10th election using the polls of their choice. There’s also information about specific constituency outcomes.
“The Election Monitor takes the polls one step further by indicating what these poll numbers mean for the composition of the legislature,” says Dr. Barry Kay, an associate professor of political science at Laurier who is involved in the project.
Kay cautions, however, that these are projections based on current public opinion, and are not predictions of the future. “Polls are a snapshot in time,” he says. “If the polls change, our projections will change, too.”
LISPOP has provided similar information for past elections, but the latest Monitor is the most comprehensive project of its kind to date. The institute plans to use a similar Monitor for the next federal election.
Based at Wilfrid Laurier University, LISPOP promotes research on public opinion in the political process, and acts as a watchdog on the public opinion industry and interest groups.
