Sir, - Notwithstanding that he likened me to Hitler, I appreciate the fact that Cormac Gaynor (July 24th) took the trouble to put pen to paper to disagree with me about opinion polls. I do, however, think that he misses the point. In fact he makes the case for examining the role of opinion polls much better that I was able to do.
Hitler did not "come to power", as Mr Gaynor would have it. He was voted into power with the support of anonymous backers who had the wherewithal to hoodwink the electorate and manipulate the political system in his favour. It is precisely for this reason that I am highly suspicious of opinion polls. I fear that influential but anonymous people could use opinion polls to do the same thing here.
Cormac Gaynor equates opinion polls with the various arms of the mass media. I do not think there is an equivalence. The mass media deal in opinions which we are all at liberty to accept or reject. Opinion polls are presented as objective scientific fact. We are all expected to accept them without knowing who financed them or whose interest they serve.
Irrespective of which of us is right or wrong, it is important that there is a thorough debate on the merits and demerits of polls. The recent party political posturing and the one-sided furore in the media was certainly not that. - Yours, etc.,
A. Leavy, Shielmartin Drive, Dublin 13.