Tory founded YouGov under fire for questioning whether benefit claimants should be allowed to vote

Polling company YouGov has come under fire on social media after it was revealed that one of their online surveys questioned whether benefit claimants should be allowed to vote.

The company, founded by Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi and former Conservative PPC Stephen Shakespeare, asked users to “please say whether you think each of the following groups should or should not be allowed to vote in General Elections in the UK.”

The list included non-British citizens living in the UK, British citizens currently serving jail terms, 16 and 17 year olds, and lastly, “those who receive more money from welfare benefits than they pay in taxes.”

The shocking survey question has been doing the rounds on social media, and it’s fair to say that people are unimpressed with the notion that the poor and benefit claimants could be dehumanised and disenfranchised in this way.

The concept that this is even an acceptable question to ask raises further concerns about how benefit claimants are treated as second class citizens by the government, the media, and the wider political class.

Critics of polling companies often claim that their main purpose is to shape public opinion, instead of gauge it.

If the Tories think polling data from surveys like this can be used to justify an attack on basic democratic rights – they have another thing coming, if social media is anything to go by.

https://twitter.com/Jess__Robinson/status/978360849122422790

https://twitter.com/las2950/status/978333066379845633

https://twitter.com/kxcii/status/978284412952604682

https://twitter.com/ezziewilf/status/978297463747596289

https://twitter.com/labourish/status/978285144938344448

https://twitter.com/jimcaris/status/978285673596751872

https://twitter.com/MarkGardner_Art/status/978376063851130880

https://twitter.com/davies42g/status/978289284343128064

UPDATE: YouGov have released an official response on their website in the form of an article called 'Why pollsters ask uncomfortable questions'. You can read it here.

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