Sept. 19, 2019
For Immediate Release

Waterloo – As the 2019 Canadian federal election campaign unfolds, much attention will be paid to the results of public opinion polls. In order to help make sense of these polls, their accuracy and their impact on political decision-making, the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy (LISPOP) is hosting a one-day Symposium on Public Opinion and Polls on Friday, Sept. 20.

The public event will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Senate and Board Chamber on Wilfrid Laurier University’s Waterloo campus.

During the symposium, Barry Kay, associate professor in Laurier’s Department of Political Science, will be releasing updated federal seat projections based on the most recent series of polls. As part of his presentation, Kay will also explain how these seat projections are estimated, and the relationship between these projections and the poll results reported publicly.

In addition to Kay’s presentation on Polls and Election Projections, the LISPOP symposium will consist of three other interactive sessions, including:

• Public Opinion Polls Then and Now – Darrell Bricker, chief executive officer at Ipsos and a Laurier graduate, and Laura Stephenson, professor in the Department of Political Science at Western University and co-director of the Consortium on Electoral Democracy, will discuss how public opinion is collected and measured, and how these practices have changed over the last decade.
• Roundtable: A Career in Public Opinion and Market Research – Four Laurier graduates who have gone on to become leaders in the public opinion and market research industry, including Bricker, will offer insights into this unique and evolving profession.
• The Impact of Election Polls on Information Seeking and Vote Choice – Jason Roy, director of LISPOP; Shane Singh, director of graduate studies in the Department of International Affairs at the University of Georgia, and Patrick Fournier, professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Montreal, will examine how exposure to polling data can affect voting behaviour.

“This event offers something for everyone who is interested in our upcoming federal election,” said Roy. “LISPOP’s mission is to provide a non-partisan, academic-based set of experts and resources to help interpret polling information for the public. So with a focus on this current election campaign, our symposium will offer context for the profusion of data we’re hearing about every day.”

For more information and to register for the symposium on Friday, Sept. 20, visit lispop.ca.