This paper addresses itself to the factors underlying the rapid change in the attitudes held by the Irish media toward political opinion polling. It draws on data derived from the continuous IMS Political Monitor (established in 1974). It also describes the problems of political polling in a country with a "two and one-half party line-up (lacking a traditional Left-Right dimension) and a unique electoral system of proportional representation.
It may be useful to open this article by asking what is the present-day state of the Art; where does marketing research stand today. Certainly, it is no longer in its infancy, and if the postwar period was one of somewhat troubled adolescence, the whole field shows unmistakable signs of growth. Marketing research today stands on the threshold of its most productive years . In the post-war period , marketing research stressed techniques; with the emergence of an integrated approach, the focus has shifted to being more problem orientated and more scientific. There is, however, some controversy as to whether marketing research is , in fact, 'scientific'.