“Elections,” says SES president Nik Nanos, “are like the Olympics for pollsters, and we can see who’s good and who might not be as good.”

Surprisingly, pollsters say they don’t make money doing election polls. Kay says they do it to publicize their name and bolster their reputations. “If you can capture the gold medal in being accurate,” Nanos adds, “it pays dividends in the long run.”

This election has seen more polls than any other Canadian election. Interesting article in The Toronto Star on the key people in the main companies, EKOS, SES and Ispos-Reid.

If it’s not the polls being scrutinized, it’s the firms themselves. Since the election began, they’ve been pummelled daily on blogs.

Graves’ firm is regularly accused of bias against the Conservatives. “It’s a long-standing view that we systematically erase Conservative support so that bureaucrats in Ottawa give us lots of work,” he says. “It’s obviously ludicrous. It’d be commercial suicide.”

Other pollsters say they’re accused of being handmaidens for every party at one time or another.

Do they share any else in common?

Many of the firms’ leaders, such as Graves and Bricker, were schooled at the same place: Ottawa’s public-service Mecca, Carleton University.

Some think they had a gift of being able to spot trends early. When he was a child, Graves could always pick the song on the radio that would top the charts. “Be it Eric Burdon or the Rolling Stones, I could always tell the dog from the number one,” says Graves, now 53.

Love them or hate them, they are now part of the electoral landscape.

“I like the truthfulness of it. A well-done poll cuts through all the bullshit,” says Bricker, 44. “I’m sick of all the talking heads and spin doctors — and no one actually asks people what they think. Our job is to hold up the mirror.”

I question whether the speed and the need to get out daily polls does much good for anyone other than the pollsters. Elections are about numbers and winning, but how many voters think in numbers?  Polling companies are valuable for businesses. They are useful in areas of sociology. Politicans and campaign managers live by them to stratigize and react. The media is in love with them. Polling firms may not make money in elections, my question is; who are they really holding the mirror up to? Gamblers use the polling numbers and play the odds. Polling firms may not make money in elections, my question is; who are they really holding the mirror up to? 

How closely do you follow election polls and  how do you think they impact you?