A new investigation from ABC News Verify is examining how Australians are being targeted with misleading claims linked to bias or poorly constructed polls and surveys.
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00:00So what we did is we dug into the origins of some of the polls, sorry, some of the claims
00:07that are linked from polls and surveys that have been making the rounds this election.
00:12And let me just speak to a couple of examples.
00:13So for instance, we looked into a claim that Trumpet of Patriots has put out there in ads
00:18and press releases.
00:19They claimed that a majority of Australians would support a party with Trump-like policies.
00:24And what's interesting about that claim is when you look at the press release that it
00:27accompanied, there was something missing, what was missing were the respondents who
00:30said no, they wouldn't support a party with Trump-like policies.
00:34And when you look into the polling itself, which is of that press release, you find that
00:39most respondents actually said no, they would not support a party with those policies.
00:42So it's just a small example of how a claim that a party is pushing out there isn't backed
00:47up by its own polling.
00:49Some other examples we looked at is, for instance, the use of so-called push polls.
00:54A push poll is essentially a poll that's not really aimed to collect any meaningful information
00:58about you, the voter, or your demographics and attitudes.
01:01It's really serving just to push a particular message out there about a candidate or policy.
01:06And we've seen reports of apparent push polls targeting voters and some key marginal electorates
01:12coming through from robocalls or SMS surveys.
01:15All right.
01:16So what sort of questions should people ask themselves then about polls and surveys this election?
01:21So I always remain sceptical.
01:23That's my number one bit of advice.
01:25But some things you can look at specifically is, how was the poll conducted?
01:29Is it a reasonable sample size?
01:30And what were the methodologies?
01:32So for instance, if it's not in poll and it's a small sample size, that could raise some
01:36red flags.
01:38Other instances, as I mentioned before about Trumpet of Patriots, if there's certain results
01:41that are missing from a company claims about what the poll shows.
01:46So you should always try to check the source if you can.
01:49And of course, as I mentioned, you know, there are some surveys out there that are really
01:53aimed at trying to steer you in a particular way.
01:56So have a listen out for things like leading questions, how candidates or policies are described.
02:03Those are signs, for instance, if you find that one candidate or policy is described really
02:07favourably and others are basically just skirted over, that it may actually be a push poll.
02:11So those are the things to do if you see a claim that you're unsure about during the
02:18election.
02:19Yeah.
02:20And if there are any claims that you're unsure about, please contact ABC News Verify.
02:23We would love to take a look and we'll be able to check it out for you.