LETTER: Jonny Steinberg gets it very wrong

I refer to Jonny Steinberg’s uncharacteristically mealy-mouthed article on polling (“Devil is in the details in divisive predictions about election,” April 19).

In the piece, Steinberg tells us he is “wondering hard enough” to raise his concerns that pollsters “are aware that their findings could affect the outcome of the election”, He casts doubt on most polls but concludes that polls — including my own — might be right, in which case “I will be eating humble pie”.

Steinberg takes issue with the poll I conducted, which — “a little odd” according to Steinberg — had the ANC at 39%. Apparently, I had concocted the results so “the work its funders paid for sang a hopeful tune” — a rather snippy little insult usually beneath him.

He enthusiastically repeats Mark Orkin’s re-percentaging of the 39% I predicted to what “should have had the ANC at 47%”. I trust that now that my 39% proved a sliver off the 40.2% that the ANC did receive, both Steinberg and Orkin will be served a very large slice of humble pie and film themselves eating it.

With no data and only a hunch that a pollster conspiracy was afoot, the old adage is an appropriate warning to both: only fools rush in.

Prof David Everatt
Wits School of Governance

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