YouGov is respected all over the world

IN his letter ( WMN, 23 Nov) David Williams calls into question the result of YouGov’s surveys over three years, which I quoted ( WMN, 16 Nov), showing a majority of people consider, in hindsight, that it was wrong to leave the EU.

He implies that YouGov, in effect, cheats its surveys to comply with the wishes of its sponsors. YouGov is one of the most respected polling and data analytics companies worldwide. Its founders are both members of the Conservative Party. One of these, Nadhim Zahani, is now a junior minister in Boris Johnson’s government. He was a vocal Leave supporter at the Referendum.

Mr Williams suggests these surveys were paid for by ‘one of the many Remain groups that are still unable to cope with the real fact that we have already left the EU’.

The actual sponsor for this series of surveys is The Times newspaper, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch.

His letter calls into question the selection of those polled, once more implying that YouGov wish to cheat the result. Patently his scepticism for this obviously scurrilous organisation has not prevented him from taking ‘part in hundreds of YouGov surveys over more than eight years’. YouGov’s website details the breakdown of the sample who were polled, showing of those who voted in the Referendum, 52% voted to Leave and 48% voted to Remain, thus mirroring the actual vote.

Mr Williams will be pleased to know that the latest result taken on 12 November, of the series ‘In hindsight, do you think Britain was right or wrong to leave the EU?’ shows a majority for ‘wrong’ of

13%. The trend is that this figure is increasing.

Mike Baldwin Thorverton, Devon