BURKE OR GALLUP?
Sir,—In discussing the general principle in- volved—that politicians should act on their own judgement and not 'abdicate their responsibilities' to public opinion polls—it is, perhaps, permissible to treat Gallup and Mass Observation as though the two organisations were one and the same. But on the particular point at issue, capital punishment, the two polls are—forgive me—polls apart.
As you state, Mass Observation 'showed that more people approved than disapproved of hanging'. The Gallup Poll, on the other hand, puts the retentionists in the minority. Only 1 in 4 (26%) are content to leave the law as it is. More (45%) are in favour of experimental abolition than oppose it (41%). Moreover the Gallup Poll suggests that if the abolitionist is prepared to accept your advice and 'educate public opinion', public opinion will eventually support him. At present only 3 in every 10 arc aware: (a) that besides Britain only one other European country (France) retains the death penalty for murder, and (b) that abolition of the death penalty in other countries has not led to an increase in the number of murders committed. Two-thirds of this group support the suspen- sion of the death penalty.
As discussion on the reasons for the differences between the two polls is probably of only limited interest, I refrain from further comment on that score and take up the gravamen of your complaint against Gallup. Is it really a case of alternatives—Burke or Gallup? Why not Burke and Gallup? To insist that Bristol's representative should not sacrifice his judgement to the electors' opin- ions, is not to say that he should ignore them, still less to hold them in contempt as having 'no merit'.
Maybe there are occasions when the elected representative should be prepared to disregard public opinion. (I doubt, incidentally, whether the issue of capital punishment is one of those occasions in a society which operates a jury system. The jury is, in effect, an 'organ of public opinion'). But when he does so he should act not in ignorance of the fact but in the knowledge of it. A Bill becomes law when it receives the Royal Assent, but unless or until it gets the sanction of public opinion it is unlikely to be fully effective. The legislator who acts simply on his own judgement and does not take the necessary step of 'educating public opinion' will not serve Bristol well. By informing him of the state of public opinion the Gallup Poll can render a valuable service and enable him not only to exercise his judge- ment but to exercise it effectively.—Yours
faithfully, WILLIAM GREGORY The British Institute of Public Opinion, 59 Brook Street, WI
[Our article was written before the publica- tion of the encouraging Gallup figures. We made no 'complaint against Gallup.' We merely suggested that more is required of Ministers than perusal of the results of opinion polls—a view which is strengthened by the conflicting results of these polls—Editor, Spectator.]
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