The politics of polling: Polling and the constitution of counter-publics during ‘reform’ in Iran

Abstract

This article focuses on the ways in which opinion polls in Iran were conducted during the ‘reform’ in Iran (1997–2005). Instead of highlighting the various ways in which polls strategically manipulate, persuade or represent ‘the people’, the article shows how the specific modes of interpretation of polls enable different kinds of publics. Drawing on the case of the Ayandeh Polling Institute, the author demonstrates how opinion polling in Iran was utilized as a political strategy that contributed to the formation of a counter-public, which served as the backbone of the reform movement. The author highlights not just the macro-historical processes within which the practice of polling is embedded, but also the micro-interactional impact of polling on the people whose opinions are being gauged.