A New French Export: Thoughtful Perspective on Horse Race Polling

The Gallup Organization took a lot of heat for its decision to forgo horse race polling in the 2016 election, turning its focus instead to measuring voters’ attitudes and opinions. We supported the move, and their prescient point of view appears to be picking up momentum. Last month Le Parisien decided to follow Gallup’s lead, focusing on in-depth reporting of the public mood and political candidates’ policy platforms. It’s big news because Le Parisien is famous for covering the horse race, and France has one of the highest rates of political opinion polling in the world.