Aussie pollster blasts Labor party over focus groups

Veteran pollster Rod Cameron has attacked the Australian Labor party over the way it used focus groups in the run up to the country’s recent general election.

Cameron, who has spent 40 years in the political polling business and previously served as Labor’s pollster, accused the party of “grievously misusing focus groups” in an interview with ABC.

The pollster said that Labor had shied away from addressing issues that had been flagged as problems in focus groups, such as energy.

He said that the party’s leadership had “accepted the verdict of inexperienced and naive focus group moderators” when putting together its policies. Market research, he said, “shouldn’t be used as an excuse for making policy or ignoring problems”.