MANILA, Philippines – The pre-election surveys of Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations (SWS) are “statistically anomalous” for not following the acceptable survey sampling methods, senatorial bet Larry Gadon said Thursday.
“My lawyer Atty. Al Vitangcol was able to establish that the method of SWS and Pulse do not conform to the least number of acceptable practice using [ninety-nine percent] confidence level and the minimum sampling of [sixteen-thousand] respondents and a margin of error of [one percent,]” Gadon said in a statement.
“This clearly points out that the surveys are bogus, unreliable, not scientific and statistically anomalous and unacceptable,” he added.
Gadon said SWS and Pulse used “1,500 and 1,800 respondents with a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 3 to 4 percent” which was “clearly unreliable.”
Gadon issued the statement after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) questioned his camp’s argument that election surveys published by the two pollsters were “fake.”
Gadon also denounced Pulse Asia for being absent in the hearing, noting that the Comelec sheriff could not find the correct address of the poll body.
“Another anomaly was discovered when Pulse Asia was not represented in the hearing. The Commission Secretary reported that the Comelec sheriff can not locate the address given in the petition and when they checked the website of Pulse Asia it had the same bogus address,” he said.
READ: Comelec grills Gadon’s camp over petition vs SWS, Pulse Asia
Gadon, who is also a lawyer, said SWS’ excuse that its clients release survey results to media is “lame,” because pollsters publish their results on their Facebook and website which the media used as source for their stories.
“It was also established that the excuse of SWS that it did not release the survey results and that the clients themselves releases to the media is so lame as Atty Al Vitangcol pointed out that SWS and Pulse Asia post the results in the Facebook account and their Website from which reports of various media outfits use as source,” Gadon said.
On Tuesday, Comelec set the hearing on Gadon’s petition to stop SWS and Pulse Asia from releasing pre-election results.
Gadon called the surveys as a form of mind conditioning, saying Filipinos usually fall for the “bandwagon effect” by voting candidates topping the senatorial survey. /gsg
READ: Senate bet says surveys a form of mind conditioning, fake news