Senate bet says surveys a form of mind conditioning, fake news
Senatorial candidate Larry Gadon. FAYE ORELLANA / INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines – Senatorial candidate Larry Gadon on Monday filed a petition before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to stop the Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Pulse Asia from releasing pre-election survey results, which he branded as a form of ‘mind conditioning.’
Gadon said that the surveys are ‘fake news and does not represent the entire population of the country.
“Kino-condition nila yung isip para.. dahil kasi ang mga Pilipino, psychology eh, bandwagon. Kapag nakikita nila na nag-number 1, number 2, yun din ang binoboto nila,” Gadon told reporters.
(They are conditioning the mind…..Filipinos usually fall for the bandwagon effect. If they see someone topping the surveys, they will likely vote for that candidate).
According to Gadon, the number of respondents of the surveys is not justifiable given the large population of the Philippines.
“Isipin mo, 55 million ang registered voters, magsusurvey sila 1,800. Oh asan ang logic doon?” he said.
(Imagine, there are 55 million registered voters, and they will survey 1,800 respondents. Where is the logic there?)
“Eh pero kapag nagpasurvey sila ng maraming-marami, lumalabas ako sa Magic 12,” Gadon added.
(When they survey a larger number, I end up in the Magic 12).
In a latest survey of the SWS, Gadon ranked 29th among senatorial candidates.
Senators Cynthia Villar and Grace Poe led the survey conducted by the SWS from Dec. 16 to 19 last year.
READ: Villar, Poe lead latest SWS Senate race survey
Gadon, however, said that even surveys show him in the winning circle, he would still file the petition against surveys before the Comelec.
Gadon also argued that social media engagement is more reliable than the survey firms./gsg
