Originally established in communist Poland in 1982,[1] it has operated as a non-profit public foundation created by a special law since 1997 (Ustawy o fundacji Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej z dn.
Major Polish newspapers and news magazines, such as Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita, and Polityka, regularly commission CBOS to conduct polls.
CBOS conducts a monthly survey on a representative sample of 1,000 adult persons entitled "Current Problems and Events" (Aktualne problemy i wydarzenia).
[3] For example, results of a survey conducted by CBOS prior to presidential elections of 2015 had shown rapidly growing support for Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska) even though only ten days earlier, in a different survey conducted by CBOS on behalf of TVN24 (a different client), the Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) was ahead of PO in terms of popularity.
[2] Agnieszka Kublik writing for Gazeta Wyborcza noted that the poll was a failure not only because of how respondents were being approached by CBOS, but also because of its perceived political affiliations.