Online surveys could provide the relevant data

For as long as democracy has existed there has been a clear mandate among policy makers that the opinion of the people of the country is extremely important when it comes to deciding the policies that they wish to undertake and that is the reason why most sensible government officials make sure that they have the information on the mindset of the people before they jump into shaping a policy. 
As a matter of fact, it has often been noticed that policy makers who have tried to force through with some sort of policy without taking into consideration of the opinions of the people regarding its pros and cons have also regretted their decisions at different points of human history since the public always make sure that they are able to vote out the ruling regime if it does not work in their interest. So, it is not really a surprise that any politician worth his salt makes sure that he takes into consideration the needs and aspirations of the people of the country before crafting any policy, as a result it is extremely important to the powers that be to conduct surveys that could provide them with the relevant data. 
In a different day and age, it was not easy to collect data on public opinion since the whole process used to be quite painstaking due to the absence of tools that could make the whole process quicker and hence unless the needs were pressing most people used to stay away from conducting such an operation.