Article: Bullfight Opinion Poll: As Spain Debates ‘Support for Bullfighting’ Bill

 Recently, I decided to try and find some statistics to support my understanding of the opinions of Spaniards towards bullfighting. I found this in an article called: "Bullfight Opinion Poll: As Spain Debates ‘Support for Bullfighting’ Bill, Most Spaniards Oppose the Use of Public Funds for Cruel, Waning Blood Sport."  https://www.hsi.org/news-media/spain_bullfighting_ipsos_poll_042313/ This source is "The Humane Society", which is an organisation the aims to stop cruelty towards animals.  

I believe that this is one of the most reliable sources I could use to obtain these statistics, as the Humane Society is a professional, reliable organisation. Also, the Humane Society is a charitable organisation so it has the duty to be honest and accurate in its publishings. Being over 20 years old, it has established itself as one of the biggest animal rights organisations in the world. The website also details how they condcted their survey to obtain the results, and from this it is clear that it was unbiased, accurate and is therefore extremely reliable:

They describe that: "Ipsos MORI conducted 1,017 interviews online in Spain on the Ipsos i-omnibus between the 22nd and 25th March 2013. Ipsos i-omnibus is a bi-weekly online survey conducted by Ipsos via the Ipsos Online Panel system in 13 countries around the world. Interviews were with adults aged 16-65yrs. Weighting was employed to balance demographics and ensure the sample’s composition reflects that of the adult population according to the most recent country Census data available and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe." (Bullfight Opinion Poll: As Spain Debates ‘Support for Bullfighting’ Bill, Humane Society International, 2013, 2022 Humane Society International, 26 January 2022).

From this description of their survey, a number of things are clear: it is unbiased because they asked a wide range of age groups according to the correct demogrphics and also a large number of countries. The only limitation is that there were only 1,017 people who completed the survey. However, since there is no bias in the age or nationality of the participants, this is not a limitation (it would be if they were all of the same nationality or ethnic origins for example). 

The reason for their survey was to oppose a new proposed law that would "declare bullfighting a cultural heritage", and they state that "A legislative proposal supported by bullfighting enthusiasts to protect and promote bullfighting nationwide is being debated by the Culture Committee before being voted on by the Senate and then the Congress. If passed, public money could be used to fund and promote this bloody spectacle." To try and prevent this, they chose to do a poll and really find out the true views of Spaniards.

The findings that stand out the most to me are as follows: 

  • 66% of people oppose using public funds for the bullfighting industry. 
  • 29% of the population "support bullfighting". 
  • 13% support it "strongly". 
  • Three quarters (75%) of participants said they "Haven't been to a bullfight in the last five years".
  • 67% agree that children shouldn't "be allowed to attend bullfights". 
Also, the website states that The Ministry of Culture released records that show that bullfight attendance diminsihed "from 2007-2011 from 3,650 attendance a year to 2,290 a year". This exemplifies how perceptions and opinions of the sport are leading to a decrease in its popularity, and considering this was written in 2013, this will be even lower now according to the trend (and other factors such as the pandemic). In 2012, the recession played a part in the decline, and also the fact that Catalonia (the neighbouring country) banned bulfighting altogether.

Source Evaluation:
I have gained specific knowledge from this source and these findings will help me to give evidence to support my conclusions when it comes to writing my dissertation. The fact that I know they are reliable statistics will enabe me to present a confident, accurate argument. 
 
However, I also found this article that could present an interesting counterargument, and the points are as followed:
  • Madrid alone would face a loss of €244 million in revenues if it banned bullfighting: €232 million would be lost indirectly while €12.2 million would be lost directly.
(The Local, 2016, Spain could lose €3.6 billion a year if it bans bullfighting, 26th Jan 2022)

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