Europolis: An EU-Wide Deliberative Poll
What kind of Parliament would Europeans elect if they knew, thought, and talked much more about the issues? An experiment conducted in Brussels gives a picture of how the votes for Parliament might be different. A scientific sample of the voters of the entire European Union, representing all 27 countries, gathered for an unprecedented three-day dialogue in Brussels just before the elections. Deliberating in 21 languages, they discussed the issues, read balanced briefing materials, and questioned competing experts and politicians. At the end, they registered their opinions and voting intentions in confidential questionnaires. They discussed two issues—climate change and immigration—in detail. The result was a European Wide “Deliberative Poll” conducted just before the election
By the end of the weekend, many of the participants had changed their views about the issues as well as their vote intentions. They had also become more informed and had changed their sense of identity as Europeans.
Research
- Europolis and the European public sphere: Empirical explorations of a counterfactual ideal Online Appendix
James S. Fishkin, Robert C. Luskin, and Alice Siu European Union Politics - The EuroPolis Deliberative Poll
Pierangelo Isernia and James S. Fishkin European Union Politics
Results
Procedures
Press
- Interview: Most People are Rationally Ignorant, The European, 8/2012 PDF
- Unsere Demokratie wird von Reichen bestimmt, The European, 8/2012 PDF
- EuroPolis proves that debate does change European citizens’ attitudes, Jun 3 Press Release
- Democrats, la via ateniese, Europaquotidiano.it, 7/2009 PDF
- Un debate informado catapulta a los verdes y hunde a los populares, Ricardo Martínez de Rituerto (El País Correspondent – Brussels), 6/2009
- Sondaggio a Bruxelles: il Ppe sconfitto e italiani più tolleranti sull’immigrazione, Il Messaggero, 6/2009. PDF
- How To Get a Better Informed European Public, Financial Times Brussels Blog, 6/2009. PDF
- Greens get thumbs up in deliberative poll, EurActiv, 6/2009
- Europeos serían más ecologistas si tuviesen mejor información de políticas UE, El Confidencial, 6/2009 PDF
- Истински дебати за ЕС биха повишили подкрепата за Зелените, сочи проучване, Dnevnik.bg, 6/2009
- Coordinato dall’universita’ di siena il sondaggio sulle posizioni dei cittadini europei su clima, immigrazione e sistema decisionale, SienaFree.it, 5/2009 PDF
- Countdown to Europe’s scientific test of democracy, Apr 27 Press Release
- That’s enough theory about the democratic deficit!, Apr 2 Press Release