MRS welcomes preliminary findings of the Inquiry into the performance of the General Election opinion polls
19 January 2016

The independent Inquiry commissioned by MRS and the British Polling Council (BPC) to examine the performance of the General Election opinion polls in 2015 reports its initial findings today.

MRS welcomes the preliminary presentation made by Prof. Patrick Sturgis, Chairman of the Inquiry, on behalf of the independently selected panel and would like to thank those involved for their swift and robust investigation.

As the regulator for market, social and opinion research, we fully support the Inquiry and its findings. We await its final recommendations which are due to be reported in March and will do all that we can to ensure their implementation across the sector. We are fully committed to working with our members to facilitate any necessary changes which will ensure that identified shortcomings are not repeated in the future.

Jane Frost CBE, Chief Executive of MRS, comments: “We would like to offer our thanks to Prof. Patrick Sturgis and his panel for the speed of their response and commitment to producing robust and insightful conclusions. We look forward to receiving their final report in March and acting on its recommendations.”

Preliminary findings

See the preliminary findings and conclusions