Remarking on the recent Global InfoAnalytics survey, Deputy Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Hon. Amidu Issahaku Chinnia, has indicated that surveys are meant to guide politicians and political parties as they provide additional information that politicians work with.
He indicated that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as an entity has also been conducting its research to enable it to understand the general mood of Ghanaians. He noted the need for the party to address its shortfalls as indicated by the Global InfoAnalytics survey in other to achieve its aim of “breaking the eight”.
“Of course when polls are conducted, some of the time they get it right, some of the time they get it wrong. It is for you the one who is affected to reflect on the outcomes of a particular poll and know what to take on board and what to reject. When I go through some of the works of this particular poll, I readily can reject certain aspects of it and I readily can accept certain aspects of it”.
Hon. Amidu Issahaku Chinnia
Furthermore, he emphasized that though anyone can disagree with certain aspects of the poll, there are definitely lessons that can be drawn from it and strongly suggested that the NPP as a party must analyze the survey to use it to improve its campaign strategies.
Capitalizing on the Assin-North by-election where the NDC candidate won by 57% vote despite a survey by Global InfoAnalytics predicting a 1.1% win margin for the NPP parliamentary candidate, the Member of Parliament asserted that surveys do not always reflect the actual outcome of elections as human behavior is fluid.
Hon. Amidu Chinnia noted however that he will not dispute the outcomes of the survey even though he disagrees with the prediction that Mahama will lead at 54% while Bawumia records at 38%, noting that Global InfoAnalytics provides surveys that sometimes reflects the actual outcome of elections.
“We don’t need to begrudge these matters, we only need to take the data, extract what we need, and leave out what we don’t need”. – Hon. Amidu Chinnia
Moreover, he noted that per the information the NPP is privy to, he is confident that the Vice President will emerge victorious in the 2024 December Presidential poll.
Reactions Of Political Parties, Natural
Meanwhile, a Political Marketer at the University of Ghana Business School, Professor Kobby Mensah noted that the reactions of both the NPP and the NDC to the survey conducted by Global InfoAnalytics are natural as they need to keep the hopes of their supporters high.
“The natural response that I expect from a political party, be it NDC, NPP, CPP, PNC, is to say that ‘well this is not the true reflection’. It is a natural reflection of the game that a ruling party will reject a verdict that says if elections were held today, they are going to lose”.
Professor Kobby Mensah
He noted however that he has a problem with political parties “bastardizing” the outcomes of surveys in their attempt to debunk the outcome to energize their support base, while he advised political actors to desist from trivializing the outcomes of surveys as it discredits it.
He also emphasized that surveys are not meant for politicians only as other stakeholders like investors and tourists make use of them in deciding on whether to invest in the country or choose Ghana as a tourist destination.
More so, Prof. Kobby Mensah indicated that once campaigns begin and the electoral processes intensify it is likely that some voters who have decided not to vote will be triggered by different factors to exercise their franchise.
“Sometimes the ordinary voter might take a decision they are not sure whether that decision is correct. They look at public figures and their position… When in 2016, Torgbui Afede spoke about the NDC and said that they [the NDC] ‘have done little’ that, nailed the apathy”.
Professor Kobby Mensah
Conclusively, he noted that whatever the outcome of the 2024 General Elections will be, will be dependent on the ability of politicians to influence voters and the viability of their campaign messages.
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