A BLIP or a trend?

Certainly, the opinion poll finding today, showing Labour's steady and commanding lead crashing to five per cent, brings a refreshing touch of suspense to a largely-boring election campaign.

But can it be trusted?

We think not.

For, on its own, it is an unreliable blip.

Contrasted with the other survey evidence so far - and, indeed, with another poll showing Labour's lead rising by five points to 21 per cent - it stands out as a freak finding.

Yet if it deserves to be treated with suspicion, do not all the others - for several reasons.

The opinion polls are too unscientific to be trusted.

The periodic sampling of a thousand or so voters out of an electorate of millions is too crude to produce credible results.

That is even if voters could be trusted to give honest answers.

As a result, even the rolling poll of polls is hardly a more reliable guide to the outcome.

And, surely, this is a baleful influence that, for all its interest value, ought to be outlawed in the closing weeks of all election campaigns.

For how is democracy served if voters may be swayed by unsound evidence and even lies?

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