Polling, long viewed as a neutral tool for measuring public sentiment, is increasingly being used to shape rather than reflect opinion, according to the Board Chair of GIPC and former Minister of State Akwasi Opong-Fosu.

According to Mr Opong-Fosu, modern polling often operates with subtle layers of influence that go beyond neutral data collection. He argues the concept of “manufactured consent,” first popularised by Noam Chomsky, has taken on fresh relevance in Ghana.

“Polling, ideally, should serve as a mirror of society. But when it becomes a tool for narrative construction, it transforms from a mirror into a mould,” he stated.

Ghana’s experience with polling dates back to the return of multi-party democracy in 1992. Since then, surveys by local and international firms have become central to election campaigns and governance. In the 1992 and 1996 elections, early polls helped legitimise the new democratic order. By 2000, polling played a visible role in the dramatic transition that ended 19 years of NDC rule.

In subsequent cycles, particularly the tightly contested 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024 elections, polling organisations frequently dominated headlines, sometimes predicting outcomes with remarkable accuracy, at other times drawing sharp accusations of bias and manipulation.

Mr Opong-Fosu posits that the design of recent polling questions, their wording, and the order in which they are asked can significantly steer responses. A positively framed question, such as “Do you support economic reforms to improve national growth?” will often produce different results from a negatively framed one: “Do you support reforms that may increase taxes and cost of living?” Even when both refer to the same policy, the framing influences the outcome.

This “subtle art of influence,” according to Mr Oppong-Fosu, works through suggestion rather than coercion. Respondents believe they are giving independent opinions, yet those opinions are often guided by how the questions are constructed.

One of the most damaging consequences, Mr Opong-Fosu warned, is the erosion of public trust, a problem with deep roots in Ghana’s political history. After decades of military rule and state-controlled information before 1992, many citizens already approached official pronouncements with skepticism. When polls are perceived as tools for narrative control, that distrust spreads from polling firms to government institutions, media houses and think tanks.

“The more people distrust the system, the less they engage with it. And the less they engage, the easier it becomes to shape narratives without resistance,” he noted.

Distorted polling, he added, can also mislead policy direction. Policymakers who treat flawed data as the authentic “voice of the people” risk making decisions based on manufactured rather than genuine sentiment.

Mr Opong-Fosu has further cautioned that such practices deepen societal divisions, creating artificial majorities, reinforcing “us versus them” narratives, and reducing space for genuine dialogue, a pattern observed in several recent election cycles.

He stressed that manufactured consent operates quietly through repetition and the authority of numbers.

“A narrative repeated often enough begins to feel like truth,” he wrote.

Mr Opong-Fosu, however, does not advocate abandoning polling, which he acknowledges remains essential to democracy. Instead, he is calling for greater transparency in methodology, scrutiny of question framing, and full disclosure of who commissions and funds surveys.

“Ultimately, a well-informed citizenry is the strongest defence against manufactured consent,” he concluded.

“When people begin to ask the right questions, the power to shape narratives shifts from institutions back to the public.”