Polling comes in from the cold — but can a new code restore trust in the sloppy electoral numbers game?

Amid growing suggestions that a federal election could be just a few months away, Australia’s polling industry took a step yesterday to restoring its reputation after the battering it took in 2019.

The recently established Australian Polling Council released a code of conduct which takes in most but not all the industry’s main players.

It’s a measure that’s been a long time coming — precisely because the once enviable record of polling in Australia allowed its practitioners to brush off suggestions that greater transparency was needed. While the code is far from a panacea for what has ailed polling in recent years both here and abroad, it at least holds out the promise of sharpening the often sloppy practices of the media in reporting poll results.