Author Archives: Oleh Iwanyshyn

About Oleh Iwanyshyn

Oleh Iwanyshyn has been involved professionally with surveys from the mid-70s when he started as a methodologist at the Institute for Behavioral Research at York University. Later, while at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation his focus shifted to media and election surveys. He now runs his own survey research company, ViewStats Research, established in 1997 and specializing in online surveys. Public opinion surveys is an essential communication tool between a democratic society and its leaders. Unfortunately, surveys can be very easily manipulated. Revealing such manipulations and their consequences is the raison d'être of the poll stuff blog.

Open letter to PM Trudeau & Dr Tam re Covid-19 spread

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau and Dr Theresa Tam, Critical information about the spread of Covid-19 may be available to you and your colleagues from a cost efficient & relatively quick population survey that can be extrapolated to the general public. … Continue reading

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Articles by Oleh Iwanyshyn in National NewsWatch

Trump’s war on vital institutions of US democracy Jul 7 2017 — Oleh Iwanyshyn — National Newswatch — While news media tends to focus on Trump’s often silly tweets, a much bigger problem gets short shrift. Public confidence in institutions critical to the preservation … Continue reading

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How Polls, the News Media, and Putin gave Trump the Presidency

(This article was originally published in National Newswatch on Jan 9, 2017) Did the Putin-inspired hacks of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) tilt the voting results in Trump’s favor? Seventeen US intelligence agencies believe Russia and in particular Putin interfered in the … Continue reading

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The CBC will run out of money before excuses

(This article was originally published on December 8, 2012 in iPolitics ) Some weeks ago I attended a memorial for Jim Murray.  For many years Jim was the executive producer of the CBC’s The Nature of Things with David Suzuki.  The show won numerous … Continue reading

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Propagating the Myth of a “Divided America”

(This article was originally published on March 6, 2012 in iPolitics.) There is a myth propagated by the American political establishment and carelessly disseminated by uncritical media that the American public is deeply divided on how the country should be … Continue reading

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Why Canadian TV drama avoids gut issues

“Why Canadian TV drama avoids gut issues” (The article was originally published on March 17, 1992 in the Toronto Star) [AM Edition] Toronto Star – Toronto, Ont. Author: Oleh Iwanyshyn and Carl Knutson Date: Mar 17, 1992 Start Page: A.19 … Continue reading

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The problem with Canadian TV

“The problem with Canadian TV” (The article was originally published Dec 10, 1991 in the Toronto Star) The ‘Can-con rule’ is supposed to foster better homegrown television. It does just the opposite. [FIN Edition] Toronto Star – Toronto, Ont. Author: … Continue reading

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NSA spying, Edward Snowden, and the Polls: Misrepresenting public opinion

(This article was originally published on August 24, 2014 in iPolitics under the title “Spying blind: How polls provide cover for domestic espionage”) Using inappropriately vague and misleading questions, polls have found an American public evenly divided in their support of … Continue reading

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Putin’s Invasion Plan for Ukraine

(This story was originally published on April 7, 2014 at the National NewsWatch site.) While there has been a huge amount of conjecture on what motivated Putin to invade Crimea and where his expansionist ambitions will take Russia, precious little … Continue reading

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Why U.S. polls are better at predicting election results

(This article was originally published on December 2, 2013 by the Hill Times.) Why are American polls more successful in predicting election results than Canadian polls? The question isn’t merely an attention-getter. Soon there will be general elections held in Quebec, … Continue reading

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