BBC Poll Tracker is out of action, I wonder why

The BBC Poll Tracker is currently out of action, giving this message:

'Poll tracker

We're making some improvements to the poll tracker. While this is going on it won't be updated, but you can still look back at polls and key events over the last 30 years.

Alternatively, click here for details on latest poll trends.'

In case you're interested here's an up to date chart courtesy of Mike Smithson

Now why would the BBC not like to show that chart?

How coincidental

I note that the BBC's Poll Tracker has just reappeared as a link on the main politics news page. It has been noticeable by its absence for some months now but coincidentally just as a few polls show a Labour lead, the Poll Tracke re-emerges; it would be funny were it no sinister and predictable.

The BBC's Poll Tracker is back!

I see that The BBC's Poll Tracker is back, just in time to report a Labour lead in the opinion polls. The BBC really are shameless aren't they. For history on Poll Tracker's history, take a read of these.

Poll Tracker - On the money

As I predicted earlier in the absence of the BBC including BPIX polls in their Poll Tracker the poll they chose as their most recent from last night's three referenced polls was indeed ICM's - that being the only poll that showed the Labour vote increasing. Interesting the Poll Tracker 'Poll of Polls' now shows Conservatives - 35%, Labour - 28%, LibDems - 28%. Figures that underplay the Conservatives latest figures. Does anyone know what formula the BBC use for this 'Poll of Polls' calculation? I presume it is some sort of running average, but over what period and how weighted?

The opinion polls and the BBC

I presume that the BBC will lose interest in opinion polls again as four of the five opinion polls out today/tomorrow show an increased Conservative lead, the other shows it unchanged; and three show Labour in third place. I wonder which poll the BBC's Poll Tracker will have as its latest poll? My money would be on the BPIX poll, but the BBC don't include them (or Angus Reid) in Poll Tracker - I can hear the gnashing of teeth from here - so I suppose it will have to be the ICM poll.

YouGov in The Sunday Times:
Con - 35% - up 1%
Lab - 27% - down 1%
LD - 28% - level

ComRes in The Sunday Mirror/Independent on Sunday
Con - 38% - up 2%
Lab 28% - down 1%
LD - 25% - down 1%

ICM - Sunday Telegraph
Con - 36% - up 3%
Lab - 29% up 1%
LD - 27% - down 3%

Angus Reid in The Sunday Express
Con - 35% - up 2%
Lab - 23% - level
LD - 29% - down 1%

BPIX in The Mail on Sunday
Con - 34% - level
Lab - 27% - up 1%
LD - 30% - level

Poll Tracker - Is it my imaginations?

Is it my imagination or has the BBC's Poll Tracker moved back from showing the default poll as trhe 'Poll of Polls' to the 'latest poll' and is this anything to do with most recent polls, but not the most recent ICM poll, showing Labour firmly in third place; the ICM poll shows Labour 'only' two points behind the Lib Dems.

BBC Poll Watch update expected any time soon?

The latest opinion poll on the BBC's Poll Tracker is still You Gov's poll showing Conservatives 34%, Labour 29% and Lib Dems 28%. I wonder when the BBC will update Poll Tracker to take account of the ComRes poll showing Conservatives on 34%, Lib Dems on 29% and Labour in third on 28%, or the latest You Gov pollshowing Consevatives 35%, LibDems 28% and Labour third on 27% or the latest BPIX poll showing Conservatives on 34%, Lib Dems on 30% and Labour third on 26%. My money is those polls all appearing before this one which will then be the latest poll - MORI showing Conservatives on 36%, Labour on 30% and the Lib Dems on 23%. I wonder how this will be reflected in the 'Poll of Polls'? I am sure that these polls will not affect the BBC/Labour narrative that David Cameron has suffered because of the leaders' debates and that the Lib Dems are gaining at the expense of the Conservatives; after all there is an election to be won...

Are the BBC playing clever with Poll Tracker updates again?

I have blogged many times before about the BBC's Poll Tracker and how its speed of update varies seemingly according to the whim of the BBC. Today is no different, as Beeb Bias Craig notes the BBC last night were reporting just two of the three polls released:
Populus (Times) - 3%
Comres (ITV/Independent) - 5%
YouGov (Sun) - 8%

Fairly obviously they were not reporting the YouGov poll, which is odd as they normally love Peter 'husband of Labour's never elected Lady Ashton' Kellner. So when I looked at Poll Tracker what do I find? The YouGov result has been added to the database but does not show up as the latest poll as that is reserved for the new 'Poll of Polls'. This means that when they update Poll Tracker with the two more favourable (to Labour) polls, the 'Poll of Polls' will show a narrowing of the Conservative lead. I believe the current expression that would cover this is 'simples'.

There is an election to saved from the Conservatives and the BBC are going to do their best to save it for Labour. All the little tricks are being pulled out and each is just a small factor, but they add up and the BBC know that.

So will the BBC report that the opinion polls are moving back in favour of the Conservatives?

Of course not when the votes are moving to Labour then 'the gap is narrowing' becomes the exciting 'narrative' and Poll Tracker moves into a more prominent position. Now the polls are moving back towards the Conservatives I predict that the polls will stop being mentioned and that Poll Tracker, already moved to a less prominent position a week or so ago, will be demoted yet again.

Sneaky BBC, very sneaky

BBC poll tracker was recently moved down the politics news home page but with the latest opinion poll showing the Conservative lead down the BBC had to find some excuse to bring it up the page. So they have added it as a related item to the story " Tory focus on 'change' for polls - The Conservatives will fight the coming general election under the slogan "vote for change", the party reveals. "

I bet someone at the BBC thought they were being so clever...

Googling results - BBC Poll Tracker special

I see that if you Google BBC poll tracker then the first three results are entries from the BBC and the next two are from this blog; ahead of more BBC pages.

Excellent, if as a result I can educate some people as to the bias shown by the way the BBC's Poll Tracker is updated and get them to look at other examples of BBC bias then I will feel a happy NotaSheep.

Poll Tracker (update 2)

As of 18:40 tonight Poll Tracker has been updated. I have not had a reply to my complaint.

Poll Tracker (update)

It would seem that the BBC are back to their old tricks as their Poll Tracker has not yet been updated with this weekend's Com Res poll that showed the Conservatives up 2% at 40%, Labour down 2% at 29% and the Lib Dems up 2% at 21%. The BBC are still showing as their latest poll the Populus poll from 8 Feb that showed Labour narrowing the gap and formed the basis of more Labour catching the Tories stories and speculation about hung Parliaments.

I have complained to the BBC again, I wonder if I will receive the same reply that I received the first time I complained "Regrettably this poll was missed, but it has now been added to the polltracker." or the one I received the last time I complained "We have had some minor technical problems with the polltracker which are being rectified this morning. Both polls will shortly appear. Please be assured there is no intent to distort the data in favour of any of the main parties."

I will report back...


Meanwhile it is interesting that Poll Tracker has been moved from its prominent position under "FEATURES, VIEWS, ANALYSIS" just under the headline stories on the Politics news home page to one near the bottom of that page. I wonder if this is in readiness for reporting bad polling news for Labour and if it will return to prominence when a positive for Labour poll appears? I will report back...



Thanks to commentator Llew for the spot that the BBC were up to their old tricks again.

Poll Tracker (update)

Last week it took the BBC's Poll Tracker until Thursday to reflect the weekend's Com Res opinion poll. This week Poll Tracker has been updated on Monday. I wonder if the fact that last week's poll was relatively positive for the Conservatives and this week is more positive for Labour had any bearing on the speed of updating? Surely not, but if future weeks show such a pattern I will report back.

Poll Tracker - What a dilemma for the BBC (update)

Further to this post it seems that the BBC are dealing with the dilemma by not reporting the polls at all. If Political Betting can have the polls up on their site within minutes of the figures being released and I can have them on my site the same evening, how come the BBC have still not updated their website almost 48 hours later?

Poll Tracker - what a dilemma for the BBC

Two opinion polls have been released tonight: You Gov show the Conservatives down 2% at 40%, Labour up 1% at 31%, the Lib Dems up 2% at 18% and others down 1% at 11% whilst Com Res show the Conservatives up 4% at 42%, Labour unchanged at 29%, the Lib Dems unchanged at 19% and others down 4% at 10%.

I wonder which of the polls the BBC will choose as their 'latest' and thus the one that Poll Tracker will default to once updates? I think I can guess... I will let you know.