Deliberative Polling

Deliberative Polling is a method, devised by James Fishkin, that combines the representativeness of a scientific opinion survey with the informed reflection of deliberation. A large, random and representative sample of citizens is first polled on an issue, then gathered to deliberate over balanced materials and dialogue with experts and one another, and finally polled again. The change between the before and after surveys reveals what the public would think about an issue if it were genuinely informed and had the opportunity to consider it — Fishkin's idea of 'counterfactual' or considered public opinion.