THE RESULTS of three separate public opinion polls on Torrington,
published in the Express, the Mail and the Chronicle, tell substantially the same story. Although there was nothing much in it, the Liberal candidate was last weekend in the lead. And this again brings up the question : can the publication of the results of these pre- liminary polls influence the final verdict? My belief is that it can, and in this case probably will. If I were an undecided voter I should be much more inclined to vote for a Liberal can- didate if I knew he had a chance—even an outside chance—of winning. It was significant at Roch- dale that after a poll had shown that Ludovic Kennedy had just such an outside chance, his final vote was very much higher than the early poll had suggested. But the final result at Torring- ton may well depend on the weather. According to the News Chronicle's Gallup Poll, 20 per cent. of the electors are doubtful whether they will vote; and it is a reasonable assumption that fair- weather voters are more. likely to vote Liberal, if they vote at all, than Labour or Conservative. • * *
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