Alcune riflessioni sul difficile mestiere di far sondaggi

The volume including this paper focuses on three crucial electoral events for the recent history of Italy: the Union primary election in 2005, the parliamentary elections of April 2006, the constitutional referendum held in June 2006. These three elections have been analyzed through different disciplinary approaches, from the historical to the political science, from the sociological and communicational approach to the juridical one. The paper is dedicated to the polls, their use in political debate and the main methodological issues related to the reliability of their results. In particular, analyzing also the international scenario, we focus on sampling procedures and the ways in which research institutions face the problem of falls, highlighting how a better culture of the survey would require on the part of survey institutes greater care in addressing this problem and greater transparency in making public the strategies adopted.