Yesterday there was a provincial election here where the scenario was was portrayed by the media and various pollsters that the party in power is going to get the boot with the second strongest party becoming the new leaders. For months everyone predicted that it was going to swing this way. However, as it turned out in the actual votes yesterday the party that was expected to lose actually won in a big way. This created a lot of questions as to what the heck happened and how so many people got it wrong.
One of the main points was how the party that won used negative ads whereas the other party tried to stay with the positive route. Based on the results people were then saying if you really want to get ahead then showing the negative side of your competition is a lot more effective than trying to be the good guy.
I was really thinking about that as this is one of those things you would say that is a horrible thing to do and will make you look worst in the long-run. However, so many times like in these cases it’s the negative stuff that sticks into people’s head. It’s almost like saying if you don’t take some kind of jab at the other person in that fashion that you are more likely to lose.
Probably the biggest topic about of this was how everyone relied on companies that polled the public in regards to who they would vote for as if their results were definite. This resulted in one party scrambling as the underdog and the other side feeling comfortable about its position. In fact, it seemed like one party was so confident that they won they went all out in getting like a victory video all edited in preparation for the victory.
Kind of embarrassing and risky to simply rely on what other people assume is going to happen based on selective polling huh? Thinking of all the times where even businesses rely and make decisions based on these kinds of information. I suppose at the end of the day you can listen to all the experts in the world. But in the end anything can happen and opinions are just that for the most part and you need to be prepared for anything.