POLLING TECHNIQUE AND

PUBLIC OPINION
 Understanding of Polling
• In many advance countries public opinion very important. When a
company wish to grow, usually they invite public opinion polling
institution to hold a research of what is needed by society and so
forth.
• Then, what is properly called polling? Referring to dictionary
‘English-Indonesia’ John M.Echols and Hassan Sadaly’, polling
means investigation of public opinion, voting, and the number of
voters.
• Those definition inspires us that, public opinion polling is collecting
and electing public opinion.

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 The Gallup Poll
• The Gallup Poll is an organization body in USA that performs
Public Opinion Polling. The Gallup Poll constitute a method of
Public Opinion Polling which discovered by leader of ‘The
American Institute of Public Opinion Polling namely “George
Gallup.”
• In USA, Public Opinion Polling is already a commercial business,
with customers such as government bodies and news papers. They
usually expect to know what can be thought the majority of
American society.
• This body can be demanded to search data for companies interest.

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 Performance of Public Opinion Polling

• According to James Bryce ‘the best way to discover pure public

opinion is assigning people who has objective vision and mission
and poses capacity in investigating and observing a problem freely
toward actual information day to day. This way is the best form of
discovering the truth, for talking to a matter someone can directly
see the fact based on data.

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 • Djoenarsih S.S., an Indonesian researcher said, differentiation
between public opinion collecting which executed by mass media
and the body of public opinion polling are:
1. The bodies of public opinion polling can achieve thousands of
respondents, whereas, mass media just interviewing in a limited
numbers.
2. In questionnaire system applied by public opinion body has absolute
condition in its system in order that interviewing respondents can
properly encompasses all level in society and proportionally
determined in advance.

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 • The Body of Public Opinion Polling poses notes categorized orderly
and systematically, such as the result of ‘general election’ and various
statistics into computers. Besides, brand also itemized the notes toward
respondents which grouped related to, profession, class, tribe, religion
and beliefs, political ideology, gender education and so forth.
• Further more, a poling has to be arranged carefully in sampling method
such as, the number of employees. They have to think of ‘the right man
on the right place.’

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 Voting and Quick Count
• Voting is a part of general election performance. General election
counted at the time of registration voters, voting, and counting voters.
• At this time the result of voting can be counted in advance by Quick
Count. Quick Count is defined as a registration process of general
election achievement result tabulation at place of voting (TPS) which
chosen randomly. By taking thousand samples the quick count host
can predict the winner of general election only in some hours (just in
time).

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 • Existing Quick Count in the general election arena named by
Antonio Gramsci, as alternative hegemony of civil society group.
Means, Quick Count can give alternative information toward
public pertaining to tabulation voting.
• Existing some hesitation of Quick Count that there is a conspiracy
idea between certain intitutions to win the election candidate. But, in
Indonesia itself, (LP3ES-Ndi) as the body of public opinion polling
has its procedure in witnessing the validity of quick count.

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 Public opinion and Pressure Group
• The term ‘Pressure Group’ first existed in USA. This group
consists of class or organizations which doing pressures
toward legislative bodies and officials to influence the Rules,
regulation and ordinance or policy performance for interest
group.
• They are called pressure group, pose cultural, economic and
political interest. To influence legislative bodies, member of
pressure-group doing what so called lobbying and mailing.
This group also un-hesitate to use mass media priory press in
its role.

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 • Pressure-Group touch-and-go, seen as reflecting the people
willingness and aspiration most of people, but this matter constitute
manipulation endeavor of certain group only.
• Public Opinion Polling is one way to restrict or repress assertion of
pressure group or small faction of society who want to get privileges
to self-group interest. Besides, public opinion polling also can open
willingness of people who unetering a party or whatever the
organization.

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