ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to compare the complex politics situations facing pollsters in different European countries. It considers the role and functions of polling in late-capitalist and post-communist societies. The chapter examines the democratic credentials and potential of polls. It focuses upon the various political contexts in which polling takes place in countries across contemporary Europe, and how this impact upon the performance of polls. The chapter shows that the conditions are likely to be more problematic in post-communist societies than in late-capitalist societies, although the processes of political restructuring that are gaining momentum in the latter are combining to blur the distinctions in terms of polling public opinion effectively. It reviews the major practical issues which complex politics political conditions present for opinion pollsters in both late-capitalist and post-communist societies. The political process in both late-capitalist and post-communist political systems is characterised by regular and relatively open competition for governmental and political office.
