YouGov polls on political parties are taken as the gold standard by the BBC and much of the media.
As anyone who glances at my social media feed will know I’m no fan of opinion polls or YouGov in particular.
In fact while I’m not keen on banning things there is a case for restricting them during Election periods as many countries do. It is increasingly obvious that they seek to influence opinion rather than reflect it. It was a tendency that was there from their origin in the UK in the late 1950s.
In the case of YouGov it sometimes appears that whoever is promoting a particular poll (not usually clear) tends to get a suitable outcome.
A case in point, trivial but not without interest, is this poll from June 2019 on classic British foods. Pork pies are near the bottom and kippers actually are. So obviously no one buys or eats such things. Here reality trumps YouGov. Have a look at the shelves in your local supermarket
YouGov polls are done on line. There is no attempt at representative sampling so however big the number they are scarcely gold standard social science. I used to do them, now they don’t ask me – I wonder why.