Analysis
The regional elections nobody is polling
Four regions vote in November and there has not been a single published poll. That may say more about polling than about the regions.
Political editor
7 min read
Campaign posters went up last week. The pollsters have not.
Four regional elections, almost three million voters and not one published poll. Party strategists are working from canvassing notes and gut feeling.
Pollsters say small samples in small regions cost almost as much as national surveys and sell far fewer headlines.
Flying without instruments
Without polls, campaigns spend where they spent last time. Smaller parties say that locks in the old map and leaves them invisible.
We know which doors were friendly in May. That is all we know.
Two universities have offered to run a joint survey if a newspaper co-funds it. So far none has.
Why it matters
Regional governments decide hospital budgets and school buildings. A race nobody measures is also a race few people follow.
Topics
Daniel Szabo
Political editor
Daniel covers parliaments, coalitions and the policies that come out of them.
