Refuting traditional polling methods, the paper will send more reporters to have actual conversations with real people in bars, factories, and other places that journalists rarely frequent for opinions, editor Stephane Albouy announced Tuesday.
“Instead of just talking about the errors and faults in polls, we have decided to return to the core of our profession,” Albouy told France Inter radio. “That is to say: the field. We want proximity. It is that way of working that we want to keep going forward.”
“It is about detecting what we call today the weak signals. We will spend time with people, talk with them,” Albouy said. “What does it cost, beside[s] energy, time and a bit of money to pass some time at the exits of factories, popular neighborhoods, et cetera? To take time to talk with people. That is in the end our job.”
The French election will begin with the first round in April, in which far-right candidate Marine Le Pen is expected to breeze through to the final round in May. Polls thus far have predicted that Le Pen will ultimately lose to the more center-right candidate Francois Fillon, but as the US and UK have proven, polls can be deceiving.
