London's Mayoral Election
The result of London’s mayoral election has confirmed YouGov's reputation for accuracy.
YouGov conducted six surveys for the Evening Standard during the past five weeks. All six showed Boris Johnson well ahead of Ken Livingstone, by margins ranging from 6 to 12 per cent.
Our final poll, published on Thursday morning, showed Boris leading Ken by 53-47%. The result? Boris won by 53-47%.
Other companies also conducted six surveys over the same period. None of them showed Boris Johnson well ahead. Their figures ranged from a lead for Ken Livingstone of 4 per cent to a lead for Boris Johnson of 2 per cent.
Last month Ken Livingstone’s campaign team complained to the Market Research Society that YouGov’s results must be flawed because they were so consistently out of line with the polls by “established” telephone research companies.
Peter Kellner, President of YouGov, said: “Telephone surveys have consistently overstated Labour’s support in this campaign, as they have done in past elections in London.”
According to the Sunday Times, “the London election proved to be a triumph for YouGov. It had been mocked by rivals for its surveys which showed Boris Johnson had a convincing lead over Ken Livingstone. Its final poll on Thursday morning was accused by Labour activists of bias, as it showed Johnson with a six-point lead when others showed the candidates neck-and-neck. Johnson, of course, won by 53%-47%”.
YouGov's final poll was published in the Evening Standard on May 1. YouGov surveyed a representative sample of 1,578 Londoners between April 28 and 30. Below are details of all the published polls since late March.
