cunntas-bheachd (en. “opinion poll”)

2331

kilts final

”What I want is to get done what the people desire to have done, and the question for me is how to find that out exactly.” Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln clearly understood the importance of public opinion as he was the President of the U.S. during the Civil War when the country was as divided as never. Despite that, he did manage to preserve the unity of the country and I suppose today we could hardly think of it being otherwise.

What about the U.K.?

I believe it is fair to say that not that long time ago it was hard to imagine that the Union of more than 300 years could ever split. Of course, the situation and the underlying issues there are very much different from the ones in Lincoln`s U.S. Nevertheless, recent opinion polls show that it has become quite likely that the Scottish would vote yes for their independence. Therefore, in the light of these events, we have chosen opinion poll as the IATE term of the week.

The polls have indeed changed by swinging from no towards yes: “Support for the yes campaign has increased in recent weeks and in a poll released on September 7 they took 51% of support, compared to the no campaign’s 49%, marking a dramatic shift in support of independence just 10 days before voting begins.” (read more)

In spite of the fact that the results of this type of assessment of public opinion are frequently doubted, they not only help to foresee the possible outcome of a certain future event but they also prompt a lot of discussions and indirectly exert influence over some people to change their minds since new offers are put on the table according to the results of the polls.

On the 18th of September the Scots will express their will during the referendum. Undoubtedly, a multitude of political, economic and identity related issues would follow in case they vote yes. For some people it would bring content no matter what, while some of the rest could hardly cope even with the loss of the iconic British flag.

Find out more about the Scottish independence referendum here

opinion poll
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By Julija Televičiūtė

Graduate from Vilnius University, English Philology (BA)

Translation trainee at Lithuanian Unit