ABAC Poll director sees a vital role

The Abac poll came under fire on Monday when Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej criticised the pollster, saying "it's lousy" after unfavourable results on the administration's performance were revealed. Director of Abac polling Noppadon Kannika talks to The Nation's Pravit Rojanaphruk about the role of polls in Thailand today.

Is being described as "lousy" poll-makers part of the occupational hazard and did you take it personally?

No. He's a senior person and a national leader and we considered the remark a blessing. It also doesn't mean the fact that his friend is the rector of Abac University would influence us in anyway.

Our position is that we're non-partisan and rigorous in our work and our whole lives are devoted to research.

How accurate are Abac poll results? Often the polls are based on people in Bangkok so does that mean they're rather Bangkok-centric?

The margin of error is 3 to 5 per cent, plus or minus. In many of our polls we conduct research with respondents from around the country, and not just on the Internet, we collect it from households too.

Should poll makers like Abac play any special role in times of deep political division like at present?

In all circumstances, poll making is attractive as it's a reflection of all classes of people, while editorial articles, from newspapers for example, result in an elitist view. It helps restore balance in news and information.

The media tend to rely a lot on Abac and a few other poll conductors. Is this good for society?

I think it's good for society because views that are not just those of the elite get disseminated. If the media interview someone it will be specific and at random but the results could be different from what the majority thinks. The media also interview people and use them to reflect their own standpoint.

What about the media's fascination with astrologers predicting the political future?

I think we must listen to information from different sources, but whether one should believe it or not is another matter. Research shows that Thai people tend to receive information passively without scrutiny.

The latest kid on the block of poll-makers is NIDA. Is the market now saturated?

There should be many poll-makers. I don't think there should be a limit to it. The more the better but they should be quality ones. Some poll-makers are not rigorous about the procedure and their findings reveal nothing about the methodology employed.

To only present figures may be misleading and could be used to distort results, the latest example being some media reports that a majority of respondents think it's too early to amend the charter while in fact it's only 52 per cent, which is hardly a real majority.