After Pigs in Blankets scandal YouGov polls against black pudding
YouGov polls tend to be treated as the most accurate by mainstream media and also used in academic research.
They are controversial on the left because of a perceived Tory bias. That kind of thing is difficult to substantiate. A more serious charge is that rather than reflecting opinion, polling companies seek to shape it by asking certain questions at certain times.
The matter is perhaps more obvious when YouGov polls on matters of less import than who runs the country.
Before Xmas it produced a highly controversial poll that claimed more people liked roast potatoes than pigs in blankets.
Now January has arrived it has polled on what people’s favourite breakfast items are and placed black pudding well down the list? Too northern and too proletarian perhaps?
By the way if you are a vegetarian or a vegan and think this is all a bit meaty, you really wont want to see what YouGov comes up with if it ever polls on the most popular non-meat foods
Christmas 2019: Pigs in Blankets. Was the YouGov poll right?
If there was one item that characterised Christmas 2019 it was the rise of pigs and blankets. The pigs, usually a pork sausage, sometimes a chicken one or a vegan alternative are wrapped in bacon or a vegan equivalent. They are referred to as sausages in kilts north of the border.
Most often the pigs are in blankets but sometimes under them or just with them.
Of course they have been around while but the rise in 2019 was phenomenal.
It may have had more prominence due to a temporary (no doubt Brexit inspired) shortage of them in Wetherspoons.
I think it may have started with large packs of pigs in blankets crisps, available in Lidl and Aldi (of course) but then in M&S.
Then of course there were the supermarket sandwiches, usually termed pigs under blankets, which were universally available.
Leon did a pigs in blankets breakfast roll while EAT (a central London sandwich chain now owned by Pret) sold a lunchtime hot version with mash, and crispy onions.
Moving on M&S produced a pigs in blankets quiche and Sainsburys were selling pups in blankets(a vegan version). Not to be outdone Lidl sold a yard-long pig in blanket and Aldi triple pigs in a blanket.
As I type I have in front of me pigs in blankets tortilla chips and pigs in blankets coated peanuts.
What this says about Britain at Christmas 2019 remains unclear as a YouGov poll on festive food has found that while pigs in blankets are quite popular, roast potatoes are much more popular. YouGov polls, while beloved of the media, are of questionable accuracy often around size and balance of those they survey.
As ever reality is a better way of testing things that an opinion poll. The Guardian reported on 7th January that Aldi had sold a record 22 million pigs in blankets over Xmas.
It seems YouGov has a roast potato bias
Leave a Reply