ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of opinion polling in capitalist political systems and the impact they have on the general processes of political democratisation. Political opinion polls continue to play a conspicuous role in capitalist societies. The intervention which polls make in late-capitalist societies is becoming increasingly significant over time. Underlying the view of the role of opinion polling is an implicit assumption that the nature of political power in advanced capitalist societies is essentially pluralistic, with significant scope for popular intervention in decision-making. In order to clarify the relationship between polls and the processes of democratization in capitalist political systems, it is necessary to gain some sense of where political power is located. A criticism of polls alleges that they give citizens a false sense of being influential when in reality political power is held and exercised by dominant groups, classes and elites within society.
