One of the most amazing — and significant — statistics of this election season has gone almost completely unnoticed:
Only 9% of sampled households gave an answer to pollsters in 2012:
It has become increasingly difficult to contact potential respondents and to persuade them to participate. The percentage of households in a sample that are successfully interviewed – the response rate – has fallen dramatically. At Pew Research, the response rate of a typical telephone survey was 36% in 1997 and is just 9% today.
The general decline in response rates is evident across nearly all types of surveys, in the United States and abroad. At the same time, greater effort and expense are required to achieve even the diminished response rates of today. These challenges have led many to question whether surveys are still providing accurate and unbiased information.
You read that correctly: In any attempted poll or survey, only 9% of attempted contacts come back with an actual response.
That means 91% of sampled households are NOT having their opinions recorded by pollsters.
Breaking down the numbers a bit, we can see that this is due to two reasons: 38% of the households contacted were unreachable in the first place, leaving only a 62% “contact rate.” But among that 62%, only 14% “cooperated” with the pollsters; the remaining 86% of contactees presumably slammed down the phone or simply refused to answer. Since 86% of 62% of the population are non-cooperators, that leaves us with the astonishing conclusion that…
53% of Americans actively refuse to answer poll questions.
The real breakdown chart should look like this:
38% could not be reached
53% were contacted but actively refused to answer
9% cooperated and answered the polling questions
Or, put another way:
Out of every 7 people contacted by pollsters, only 1 will answer the polling question, while the remaining 6 refuse to answer.
Six to one, people; six to one. Think about that for a second.
What are those 53% thinking — and why would they purposely refuse to cooperate with pollsters?
Furthermore, where are those unreachable 38%? At work? On drugs? Curled up in a fetal position under the couch?
Pew goes on to claim that, despite the appallingly low cooperation rate in 2012, they think their estimates of public opinion are fairly accurate in any case.
That may have been true in past years, but we won’t know this year until after the election how accurate the polls were.
But now also consider these newly released stats showing that distrust of the media has hit an all-time high, and most importantly that Republicans and independents are twice as likely to distrust the media as Democrats:
There’s only one possible conclusion to reach: That the non-cooperating 86% of contactees are twice as likely to be Republicans and independents as they are to be Democrats.
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This imputes a HUGE skew into all poll results, a skew that is rarely acknowledged.
Who are the 91%???
Are you one of them?
Did you miss a call from a pollster because you were at work?
Did you refuse to answer a question from a pollster, once contacted?
If so, why did you refuse?
Even if you don’t answer poll calls, do they record your non-response as support for Obama anyway?
We have the stats. Now let’s flesh them out with some anecdotes.
UPDATE:
Here’s a summary of some of the anecdotes and reasons for non-response from the comments section below; the number preceding each line is the number of commenters who cited that rationale:
28 – I do answer, but I often lie and give false answers, just to screw with them.
24 – I have caller ID and never answer any call from any number that is either unknown or blocked.
17 – I do not respond because I suspect that callers identifying themselves as “pollsters” are more likely telemarketers, fraudsters or deceptive political operatives engaged in “push-polling.”
16 – I do not respond because of potential privacy violation, that pollsters can correlate my answers with my identity; “I fear that they will use my political beliefs against my family.”
14 – I do not cooperate because I consider the polling industry an arm of the biased media, trying to influence the electorate.
13 – I only answer calls from people I already know; if I accidentally answer a robo-call or a call from a stranger, I just hang up.
11 – I refuse to divulge any personal opinions or data to an anonymous stranger, who could be ill-intentioned for all I know.
10 – “Why should I waste my time talking to these people who will skew the results anyway?”
7 – I’m among the 38% “unreachable” because I do not have a landline.
5 – I’d only cooperate with pollsters if they compensated me for helping them.
4 – It’s just a waste of time; I have better things to do with my life.
4 – I would answer calls from any pollster which I recognize from caller ID as being unbiased, but otherwise I don’t.
3 – I suspect that if I answer once, my number will be added to lists of positive respondents, precipitating more calls.
2 – After I burst out laughing when questioned if I supported Obama, the pollster hung up on me.
2 – I never used to answer pollsters, but recently I have started answering, to counter the inaccuracies in earlier polls.
1 – I hang up if I “don’t like the questions.”
1 – I decline to answer because if I say I’m not voting for Obama they will sneer at me as a racist.
1 – I don’t answer because I think that polls are a corrupting influence on public policy, that political decisions are based on poll results, not on what is actually best for the country.
1 – A pollster questioned me once. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.
6 – I refuse to cooperate with pollsters for all of the reasons above.
I’ve been polled 11 times in the last three months. Sometimes I lie, sometimes I’m a 23yr old college student, sometimes I love Obama, mostly not.
Take that how you will, maybe we’re all lying.
Yeah, I get polled several times a week. I have gotten pretty creative answering the demographic questions and party affiliation. I always am a strong supporter of Romney.
I notice the polls are always “push one for Obama” and some if you are not fast enough assume you are an Obama voter.
I noticed that too. Obviously they are making the subconscious connection between pressing 1 for English and 2 for Spanish. Putting Oblather in position 1 is not accidental. Mostly likely, the ballots will list Onothing first as well. They’ll just say it’s because it is alphabetical order, but if Romney was named Anderson, they’d just pick some other false reason.
Any reputable poll would alternate the order of the answers. Partisan polls though… who knows.
“reputable poll ” oxymoron.
They pretend to be objective but all are subjective. ALL.
Slow people are always Obama supporters.
Great in-depth paper by Pew Research:http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1601/assessing-cell-phone-challenge-in-public-opinion-surveys
Here’s a completely different plausible reason for low poll response.
I am on the federal do-not-call list, which nevertheless permits pollsters to call me. So guess what? I get a fair (or unfair, if you like) number of push polls — calls that take the form of polls but are actually trying to sell me stuff. This fact makes me much more likely, when I hear “This is a poll about…” to respond “Sorry, not interested” and hang up.
Also, when someone calls with what claims to be a poll, how do I know that they’re not just gathering marketing information? The answer is that I don’t. So again I’m more reluctant to answer polls than I was a decade ago.
It is true that I took a chance and answered a poll for someone who claimed to be calling for Rasmussen, because I recognize them. But even then, I have no way to know that it wasn’t a fraud.
pretty sure it wasn’t a fraud … too easy to get caught …
If it was a person, it wasn’t Ras. Ras uses robo calls…..
I don’t have a land line AND I am on the do-not-call list. Besides, I’m careful to whom I give my cell number. When I’m at work, the cell is put away in a locker and I don’t hear it or answer it.
I have to go with “I refuse to cooperate with pollsters for all of the reasons above.” LOL!
When I’m at work, the cell is put away in a locker and I don’t hear it or answer it.
Why not just turn the (expletive deleted) thing off? The manufacturer put a “power” button there for a reason.
Like you, we’re very selective about who gets our cell number (family & close friends only). Several months ago we dropped our cell phone provider and got a TracFone; neither of our employers will ever know the new number.
I probably should, but I’m always worried that I might forget to put it back on.
In any event, the locker is in a room that is usually unoccupied, and I don’t get that many calls anyhow. The vast majority of my conversations are face-to-face. (I know; I’ve just dated myself as antediluvian by saying that.)
What are those 53% thinking — and why would they purposely refuse to cooperate with pollsters?
I’ve been called by several different polling outfits over the years including Rasmussen. I refuse to participate. They call me so they have my phone number. That makes it easy to coorelate my answers to my identity. Even if they make their living polling people, it’s none of their business about my preferences. They can go pound sand.
Also, I’ve been called by several outfits that I’ve never heard of. Sorry, but I’m even less enclined to cooperate with them. Some may be legitimate and some may be push polling firms. Screw them all. I believe in the private ballot.
Nobody answers their phones these days. If you need to get a hold of somebody, you have to text them.
Now that is one heck of a good suggestion.
Though I still wouldn’t answer a poll that was texted to me.
Me neither!
I just might answer some questions if someone were to confront me IN PERSON, in the daytime, and in a public place – provided I wasn’t in a big hurry to be somewhere else. I’d be likelier to answer if the person in question offered cash in return for a few minutes of my time.
9%… who’re at home watching the soaps at 2:00pm when the pollsters call, not out at a job or looking for one. Golly, Democrats are ahead… especially with all the free ObamaPhones in swing states!
Yes, every poll I get is mid afternoon. I have had dozens since the primary seasons was de facto over.
I’ve gotten a half dozen poll calls, in Cali, and they’re all around 6-7 PM. I never give answers, for multiple reasons already cited. With the only robo-poll I’ve gotten, there was no option for “repeat the question – more slowly”, so I hung up. All the rest were fast talkers who wouldn’t slow down.
I talked to a Mike Huckabee robot the other day.
Otherwise, my first question to anyone calling to poll me is how long it will take. If they don’t answer me, I hang up. If they say longer than ten minutes, I hang up. Once I begin, if I don’t like the questions, I hang up.
The robot was actually clear, polite, and apparently understood my answers!
Someone check the guy on Fox for oil leaks.
You don’t know who you’re talking to. With some of these whackos out there like Kimberlin and Rauhauser, you may be inviting somebody to hang Fido from your tree or torch your house.
I think a lot of people have serious trepidation about letting any stranger know their opinions. The situation is asymmetrical: the caller is anonymous, and you’re not.
A few decades ago, we didn’t have serious reason to worry about this kind of thing.
I’m there. I used to try to give responses – but after two pollsters hung up on me when I didn’t give the response they wanted I just decided to refuse to participate.
This should have been to old guy #13.
We screen the calls: it’s not unusual to get 5 or 6 polling calls in the afternoon and evening. If it’s a poll, we don’t answer. If by mistake we pick up on polling call, we tell them to go away. I’m the nice guy: my sons give them crap like “Dad died last week you bastard.”
I don’t have the time in my life to waste talking to some pollster I didn’t invite into my life. Why should I waste my time talking to these people who will skew the results anyway? Then there is number 7′s valid point above: I wrote a book review once that had the guy’s fans emailing me and threatening to kick my ass.
Your sons kick @ss! Go kids!
Here in Nevada, I’ve been getting on average a call a day from pollsters. I mean that quite literally.
I too live in NV. In Henderson. If you’re only getting one call a day, your lucky. I’m registered R and I keep getting calls from some bunch trying to get me to vote for Obama. I finally told them I considered their calls to be harassment and I would take action if they called back. So far, they haven’t. Normally I don’t respond to polls. Who knows what they’re doing with the information?
Also in Nevada here–in Washoe County. I’m registered as non-partisan, so I get all manner of odd calls throughout the day. Unless I recognize the name or number on the caller ID, I don’t pick up. I was getting lots of calls before the conventions, and the number has only picked up since then, probably at least between 3 and 6 most days. I have no idea how many are supposed to be polls and how many are other sorts of campaign calls since very few ever leave messages. So far I only told one Democrat canvassing the neighborhood that I wasn’t planning to vote for Shelly Berkley or Obama; other than that, I don’t tell them.
I’m in SC, which is NOT a battleground state. Practically no campaign signs, commercials, or anything else. I haven’t heard anybody say they’ve gotten polling calls, either.
Maybe they don’t want to poll in a state they know is majority Republican.
I have only been contacted by one political pollster. They asked me a series of questions which culminated with “do you support President Obama’s health care bill”? This caused me to burst out laughing, and the pollster hung up on me.
So yes, I think it’s likely we are getting skewed numbers.
All the dozens of phone polls I get come mid afternoon!!
The only calls I answer are people I know, which I can tell by their ringtones.If I accidentally pick up because someone is spoofing me, I just hang up on them.
Democrats are all little children who seek approval. I don’t give a flying eff if you like me or not. Hanging up on people who think they have the right to disturb me just because they own a phone does not cause me any pain whatsoever.
This is the downside, MSM. You’ve made me hate you. Now eff off.
YES, YES, YES! THIS! DING, DING, DING, WE HAVE A WINNER, FOLKS!
Dang I wish we had “like” on this website! LIKE
PJMedia are you listening? If FB can figure it out, I’m sure you can as well.
PJM should power their comment sections through Disqus, which lets readers “like” a post.
Even better is Intense Debate, which lets you vote “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” and keeps a running score on each post. For example, a “+8″ means eight more readers liked a post than disliked. In addition, a writer accumulates an overall score based on total likes & dislikes.
I refuse to cooperate with pollsters for all of the reasons above.
We were inundated with polls during the Thompson Recall. I got to where I just hung up on them without speaking. It motivated us to get rid of our land line in August. It has been grand. No phone spam, most of which was political spam/polls.
I have also noticed that many web sites hit me with customer satisfaction polls/surveys, even when I am there for a first time; I see several a day. I think part of it is, people are sick of getting asked to participate in polls all the time.
I get called a couple times a week, and I rarely participate in polls because most of the questions seem to be pushing an agenda – a push poll. Also, the pollsters operate from boiler rooms just like telemarketers, and you can’t tell the difference until you’ve spoken to them for a minute or so, and frankly I don’t want to give the jerks my time. I also have the suspicion that if I do participate, my phone number will be high-lighted and I’ll just get more bothersome calls. Screw ‘em.
Personally, I hang up on all pollsters.
My reason for hanging up on pollsters is the same as my reason for hanging up on sales calls; I don’t appreciate unsolicitated interruptions from strangers. I also assume that if I answer their questions my number will remain their list, only to invite more unsolicited calls.
I am one of the 9% — and I lie to pollsters.
I never get called – I’d answer if I did get a call.
Maybe it’s because I use a Vonage number or something.
VOIP is going to be next. Oh joy.
I am often home when pollsters call but I have caller-ID and don’t answer calls of anyone who blocks their number. I know I have been called by some pollsters (Quinnipiac called within the past year) but I don’t answer those calls because I view them as a waste of time. I would answer if Rasmussen called but they never have. Since I live in a state that is pretty likely gonna go for Obubblegumbrains, they aren’t really bothering much here this year anyway. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Buck, you have a terrific screen name.
I’m jealous!
Same here – usually if call waiting shows a pollster or a call from 202 we ignore it. When I have answered a poll, they know my name and ask personal questions such as income, making me not want to ever assist in another poll
Yes, great screen name. Other favorites include “Alarmed Pig Farmer” and “Random Blowhard.”
Truly inspired. Maybe there should be a contest for the best one.
I use my real name, but if I didn’t, I would use “Back Furack.” I’ve used it in many posts, but no one seems to get it.
I get it! Swap the first two characters and you get … !
I use the same name on everything. Except Twitter. Some dude got it before me and hasn’t used it in over 3 years!
I don’t participate in polls, I consider these guys part of the MSM.
That said, there are many reasons not to answer, as shown by the other commenters.
I do not answer any polls because I think far too much policy is decided on the basis of polling rather than what is good or bad for the country. The Bush administration, for example, seemed to always be keeping an eye on the polls. Since I think polls are a corrupting influence on policy, I am happy to hear that many more people are no longer cooperating with them.
Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. Titus 3:10
Corrupting influence is right… got no time for liars, dissemblers, obfuscators or statisticians.
Matty, great scripture!
I was visiting a friend who has a very talkative 3 year old. She answered the phone and when she discovered it was a real person doing a poll, she handed the phone to her daughter. It only took a minute, but she was beaming that she actually got to talk to someone on the phone!
I live in Central Florida, the “I-4 Corridor,” where some say the entire election will be decided.
Got a robocall from notorious whackjob Democrat party Rep. Corrine Brown yesterday. CLICK.
So I tell my family to expect these calls, and I turn down the interview always, mainly because I mistrust the lamestream media and will not give them my consent to represent any D— thing I might think or do.
One collection of pond scum, proudly announcing itself on caller ID as “Political Poll” managed to call more than a dozen times over a six hour period. I guess they get points for persistence.
But the way the media is manipulating poll results is, and has been, so biased that I refuse to cooperate in any way. Let them get their answer on election day.
Absolutely spot on. The only poll which matters is on election day. Aside from that poll, bugger off. All other polling is merely to make a candidate more seductively packaged. That, to me, is pure, 100%, unadulterated, Grade A, inherently dishonest Shiite. You, nameless drone, on the other end of the line are NOT going to change my mind and I prefer to not have my name in a database of which I have no interest. The Republicans called to poll me and when I found out who they were, I unloaded on the guy. Haven’t heard back from them since. I remember telling him they are Democrat lite and I support the Tea Party. Will I vote for Romney, grudgingly, yes. OMG 2012
“I don’t have the time in my life to waste talking to some pollster I didn’t invite into my life. Why should I waste my time talking to these people who will skew the results anyway?”
Roger that. Add to that the push polls. I just say “NO!” and hang up on them. Just like I do with telemarketers, who aren’t supposed to be calling me anyway as I’m on both the state and federal do-not-call lists.
Neither my wife nor I answer a phone call coming from someone who hides their identity from the Caller ID feature. Furthermore, we seldom answer if it is clear we’re gettin a call from a pollster. On rare occasions we will pick up just to see what the caller wants, but we never cooperate with any pollster. Neither of us is registered with any political party.
Our past experience is that if you cooperate you will be inundated with more calls. We are not lonely.
The candidates of both parties have taught voters to distrust the polling process by overuse of “push” polling. Sequence like — are you considering candidate “X”?, do you have a strong position on issue “1″?, did you know candidate “X” opposes your position on issue “1″?
I have caller ID and never answer an unknown phone number (usually just a telemarketer anyway). Therefore pollsters never get picked up in the first place.
I simply don’t have the time for it. As I get older, I realize that my most valuable commodity is time. In this particular realm, at least. So, I’m not going to waste it talking to a stranger on the phone!
I’ve probably had nearly a dozen polling calls this time around (they leave tracks on my caller ID system). If I accidently take one, I hang up. Why?
I think polling as it’s done should be against the law. This is not done as an academic study; it’s purely an attempt to influence votes. Let them poll all they want, but don’t let them publish (publicly) the results until the last polling place closes.
You’d see a lot less polls done.
I used to get polls a lot. The last poll I got the pollster asked me a lot of questions to determine if I really was an independent. He determined I was.
Haven’t had a poll since.
I lie anyways.
“I refuse to cooperate with pollsters for all of the reasons above.” (1)
Like to add a caveat, it will be a cold day in hell before I give these political vultures one iota of information because I believe with all my soul they are all part of the 5thy column traitors doing everything they can to destroy this great republic and our Liberty.
They can go to hell.
I ‘m in the same boat as Vader06 if they can’t bother to identify themselves to caller ID, me and my wife can’t be bothered to answer. We also don’t answer for the same reason it’s probably just a telemarketer anyway. The Detroit Free Press is pretty egregious example calling three times in one hour and they did it a number of times.
I am one of the 38% unreachable because my household no longer has a land line. I have lots of company.
Zombie, I think you have hit the nail on the head. The interaction between the media, the polls, the electorate and the candidates is absolutely unlike anything that has gone before.
I have been saying all year that this intersection between distrust in the media and polling responses was going to be a critical factor in the election. Specifically, that “I don’t answer polls because I consider the polling industry an arm of the biased media, trying to influence the electorate” portion of the population would have a big effect. And here, in (an admittedly tiny, unscientific) sampling, it shows up tied for first.
I hope Romney wins in a landslide, if only to see the MSM self-destruct. They’ve been doing it in slow-motion for years, but I’m really itching for a total meltdown. Maybe then, some kind of journalistic integrity will rise from the ashes.
I despise the polls. That caused me to notice this little bit of irony:
“But now also consider these newly released stats showing that distrust of the media has hit an all-time high, and most importantly that Republicans and independents are twice as likely to distrust the media as Democrats”
Yes, this POLL is presented with a nice euphemism, “stats.” To wit: as part of his evidence that the polls are inaccurate, he cites A POLL but purposely calls it something else.
Did I tune into MSNBC by mistake? Or is that kind of sleight of hand acceptable by either side?
Hey, it’s the best we can do. There’s basically no way to have a discussion about the attitudes of the American people — including their attitudes about polls — without some reference to…polls.
You didn’t even mention the biggest irony of all: That the data indicating that only 9% of people respond to polls, itself comes from…pollsters! Oops!
Other than living in a world entirely composed of anecdotes, or starting up our own non-biased polling firm, we have no choice but to “rely” on polls to some extent. This is not “sleight of hand” but rather doing the best with the cards we are dealt.
Polls that are are not directly about preferences for political candidates or policies are much less likely to to be biased, because they don’t induce anger or political paranoia. Thus, statistics about how few people respond to polls and/or statistics about trust in the media have a higher likely-to-be-unskewed quotient. I’m not saying they’re guaranteed to be accurate, but at this stage they’re the best data we have, and there is no contravening data which casts doubt on them (as there is with directly political polls).
All true . . . if you hadn’t called it “stats” I’d have let it slide. Calling it other than a poll made it appear you were hiding the fact you were citing a poll.
That was just a random stylistic habit — trying to find ways to say the same thing without repeating myself. I still remember getting a “B” on an essay in 10th grade because my English teacher said I repeated the same word too often. Once downgraded, twice shy.
I last answered a pollster in 2010. It turned out to be Harry Reid’s machine. They called me EVERY day with something negative about the candidate I was for until I called the Democrat party and told them to knock it off!!!!!!
Now I only talk to rasmussen.
I’m one of those who screens calls with Caller ID, and we have been getting calls from all over the US. I know the majority of them are political surveys, and so I don’t answer, unless I get caught without a caller screen to look at (just in case it’s family with an emergency). In those cases, I listen until they identify themselves as Democrats or Obama callers, and then I state quite firmly that I’m voting for Romney, or Josh Mandel (I live in Ohio), and hang up on them. It pains me to be rude, but that saves me from distressing conversations with desperate Democrats who tend to get rude in their desperation.
I don’t want to answer questions from a stranger about how I will vote. That’s my business, and mine alone. I don’t want to be lectured, or engage in an argument with some ideologue. I ferret out the facts about candidates as I can from multiple sources, and make my own decisions based on my self-interest and the interest of my community. My understanding of American history and foundng principles allows me that freedom of choice.
I briefly worked at Gallup in 2007. Our calling schedules started in late afternoon and went well into the night. Mostly I interrupted people in the middle of dinner or similar events. The majority of them refused to answer my questions, asking for their names to be taken off of our list. (We simply added their number to the “do not call” database we had. Being a polling organization, we were not bound by the federal do not call list, a situation which led to one old woman practically cussing me out for calling her again.)
Overall, I would say a pretty low percentage of people answered my questions, but I never did political polling much, mostly financial questions and the like.
I used to do telephone surveys when I was working for a temp agency, well over three decades ago.
People were a lot more willing to talk back then, and a few of the males were actually flirtatious. Yes, I was single and unattached, but no, I obviously couldn’t reciprocate, nor would it have been safe to do so.
I have complained before when polls are cited that no one ever polls ME. I would answer a poll call from an outfit I recognized to be a poll. But if my caller ID says “blocked” or “out of area” or crap like that, forget it. I’m not answering the phone. Probably someone either trying to sell me crap I don’t want, or begging me for donations. When I have something to donate *I’ll* contact YOU, dimwits.
My husband, on the other hand, has a hard time resisting the ring of the phone. So he answers, but he hangs up when he discovers it’s a pollster. Why? He’s busy doing something else and doesn’t want to take 10 minutes to answer questions.
I have been contacted by Rassmussen once that I’m aware of. I have a little kid who finds it terribly painful to ignore the phone when it rings. Every time but once that my kid has answered it’s been a telemarketer. Only ONE time that the boy answered and then handed me the phone was I willing to say more than “I’m not interested,” and that’s because he used a polling name I recognized. I answered his questions. It did take about 10 minutes. Leaving me alone and in (relative) quiet to answer the guy’s questions tested my kid’s self control to the limit. Maybe if polls didn’t take so damned long…
If someone wants to poll me, they best be using a recognized name on my caller ID AND they’d better say damn quick that they’re not trying to sell me anything. Otherwise, they can forget it. I won’t answer. And if my kid answers, I won’t talk.
I don’t give it away for free. They’re making money of my information, I should be compensated. Each pollster is advised of my rates, if they want honest answers they can compensate me. None has.
Unknown or blocked numbers = no pickup from me. Never.
It could be the hospital calling to say your loved one has been in a tragic accident. Due to privacy laws they’re often blocked.
I have an elderly relative who is one of those sad old people who sits by the phone and answers a stream of infuriating telemarketers all day long just in case one of those incoming calls might be from a hospital with the Dreaded News of a Terrible Accident.
Needless to say, she has endured 40 years of infuriating waste-of-time calls and still has never received the Dreaded Call.
But you’ve given me a new idea that I will now sell to pollsters: Start each call with, “GREAT NEWS! None of your relatives has been in a Terrible Accident! Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, to pay us back for giving you this news, how would you like to answer the following questions…?”
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, the law of reciprocity is null if the gift is a blatant attempt at manipulation.
In my life I’d gotten several calls from my local hospital. The caller ID always displays the hospital name on the screen.
I’m another one who doesn’t answer unidentified callers.
If it’s important they can leave a message, I’ll call them back.
If it was a genuine emergency, they would leave a message to that effect and provide a callback number.
I’ve been polled three or four of times in Minnesota counting the last election cycle. Two of the four were push polls. “If you knew (insert Rebuplican name) ate aborted baby parts for breakfast, would you have the same opinion…” That’s when I’d tell him/her, “You should be ashamed of yourself for lying to me about the nature of the call and that you’re mother would be ashamed of you, too. Grow up and get a real job.” Then I’d hang up.
I refuse to talk. I fear that they will use my political beliefs against my family. I have seen first hand the corruption of the media and what they are willing to do to make an example of and crucify those who dissent.
I use an answering machine to screen my calls and only pick up if the caller is somebody I feel like speaking to at that moment. If a pollster ever called me, he didn’t bother talking to the machine and just hung up.
I screen my calls with an answering machine. I do not believe that a national polling organization has ever left a message on my answering machine. My answering machine has recorded requests from Mike Huckaby and my local Congressman to reply to survey questions.
I have no desire to tell a stranger my points of view over the telephone. Years ago,before I had an answering machine, I replied to a telephone survey from the other side of the country regarding household insect problems. I considered it my duty to misinform the questioner about the insect problems in my household. Anything to trip up a sociologist.
I get rather annoyed at the machine-generated phone calls coming from the local Democratic Party organization to vote, vote, vote on election day. I got some some machine-generated phone calls in support of Occupy Wall Street last year. I wonder what organization was behind them.
There has been a lot of controversy in Venezuela regarding the reliability of the various polling organizations regarding the October 7 Presidential election. Some have Chavez with a 15-20 point lead over Capriles, with 15% undecided. Some have Capriles with a 3 point lead. Apparently some polling organizations will have egg on their faces come October 8, the day after.
Depends who’s counting the votes. Chavez people are probably deeply in charge of the vote counting….
Assuming that I am talking to an actual pollster, pollster come in two favors, those mostly biased, and those seeking honest results.
It’s pretty clear most polls, at least at this time, are actively biased, so at best odds are against me speaking with someone who is conducting an honest poll.
So why should I or any non-democrat bother?
Add me and mine to the ones who don’t answer unknown numbers on the phone.
I lied like hell to the census as well, and they came to two of my houses. Bam, bam.
2010 was the year I became a Native American….figured if I was born here, it fit.
Ignored all the other questions.
There have been a melange of ethnic groups in residence over the years. Heh.
Not that I’d ever participate, anyway. If the number doesn’t show up, or the Caller ID says something weird like “)(” or “0″ then that call doesn’t get answered. It’s annoying, since my husband and I both work 12 hour night shifts 3 or 4 times a week, and our sleep is precious to us, and these calls start coming in at around 1pm, at least twice an hour until around 6 pm. I know a good deal of those calls are pollsters, since some of our neighbors are getting and answering them.
Thanks so much Zombie!! Pay attention people! THIS is what time-well-spent looks like. For all the cowards who can’t think of anything else to write about except whiny little hit pieces on the GOP nominee, Zombie has provided actual USEFUL information, not half-ass backseat, Monday-morning quarterback BS!
This may be the most highly referred to post for most of the week.
this is also how we get ridiculous statistics like the percentage of the population that’s gay being around 1-2%, imagine getting a cold call from a stranger who inquires into your orientation/sex life. what percentage do you think would be willing to just sit around and chat about it? maybe around 1-2% ?
I sometimes call people to confirm they’ll be attending a class and roughly two-thirds of the time I get their voice mail. If that’s becoming more common, that’s one reason for the difficulty in reaching people.
Of course, that doesn’t explain those who refuse to be interviewed or who simply hang up. I’m one of those. The instant I I realized there’s a robot on the other end, I hang up.
Just to make sure everyone knows:
All comments here are being summarized in the “Update” at the bottom of the post above.
Great input so far.
I’m one of those cellphone only types but I have never gotten a call for a survey/poll.
I screen my calls and never respond to polls (or telemarketers).
All the polling companies claim that their telephone samples are representative of registered or likely voters. I have seen no evidence that supports the claim. I believe that those who participate in polls differ significantly from the pool of likely voters, and the non-participants are more likely to vote Republican or Libertarian than Democrat.
Up until this past week I have ignored the pollsters. I work out of a home office and had been extremely busy completing a project with a deadline. If I didn’t recognize the name or number, I ignored it.
I haven’t been quite so busy this past week, and I had become fed up with the polls claiming that Obama is winning in Florida. I feel reasonably confident that Romney will take Florida.
So this past week I responded to three polls.
Two polls were automated.
One of the the automated polls was so badly designed that I doubt any meaningful data will be gathered. It was called the Independent something-or-other. They did not even ask if I was a registered voter.
The third poll came this afternoon. A live person called and I am guessing it was affiliated with NBC. At the end of the call they asked if I would mind if someone from NBC called me back later to learn more about my opinions. I said do not call me back. I do not trust NBC. They asked.
All three polls asked about presidential preference and out Senate race. The one today asked if I was a member of the Tea Party and a few other questions that seemed irrelevant.
I answered all three polls truthfully. Romney/Ryan! Absolutely certain!
Don’t forget to put those empty chairs out tomorrow. Wear Romney ball caps to the grocery store and everywhere else that stupid people are found. Keep those Romney yard signs in the highest traffic areas on or very near your property. The only way to get votes from idiots is to expose idiots to the thought that everyone else is for Romney. They vote in herds and they try to vote for the winners. There are many reasons for this, but all of them point to the average disengaged voter who never votes except in general Presidential elections. Most of them can’t read, spell, or do simple math, so keep it simple. “Obama fail” can work if the sign is big enough. And pay no attention to these pollsters, they are only gathering “data” for the media to sit around talking about between the car and cat food commercials. We will beat this bastard Communist because WE are Americans. Democrats should join us this year so that they can wrestle their party back from the clutches of these Marxist losers. ABO2012
I was getting a lot of poll calls during the last election and I refused all of them. Most were liberal pollsters. I always think they skew things so I refused them all.
I hope that all these comments aren’t just a case of whistling past the graveyard.
They all seem pretty sincere to me, just being honest.
All are being tabulated in the update, for easy reference.
By the way, I don’t answer any polling questions. I never talk first when it is a number I don’t recognize and I never talk period when I don’t recognize the voice. If no one talks, I just hang up on them. I have no time for people who think it is their choice to interrupt my life whenever they want to.
I have caller ID. I do not answer calls labeled “opinion poll”. It might be an opinion poll, but anyone can program their phone such that their outgoing calls will appear on my caller ID as ” opinion poll”, while actually being a criminal, a con-man, or a Democratic zealot from down the street eager to take revenge upon me for holding conservative views.
There must be millions like me in our ideological camp. I therefore am confident we will have a Romney landslide in November. What I am fearful of is insane lame duck Congressional measures, over-reaching executive orders, or an unhinged Obama declaring martial law.
If lil barry attempts to institute martial law, let’s see him enforce it, to paraphrase President Jackson. The other quote I’ll reference was made by Admiral Yamamoto.
Cheers!
I always talk to them and lie, lie, lie.
Just for the fun of it.
That’s exactly right, Zombie. Back in the spring I was persistently called by a pollster—I recognized the organization on my caller ID—and refused to answer. I gleefully enjoyed not answering because I knew that I was helping in my small way to mess with the minds of the dems, liberals, and far-left whack-jobs when Zero loses in November. The seeds have been planted. The only regret I have is that I didn’t get to do this in a swing state.
We have 4 registered voters in our house. Husband rarely answers the phone, adult offspring automatically hang up when they hear a robot or an automatic caller asking you to wait for an operator. I answer and talk as long as I don’t need two hands for cooking;they always call at dinner cooking time. I rarely tell the truth.
When I do tell the truth I am not believed-
“I didn’t see your ad because I never watch TV.”
“So did you see the ad ..? ”
“No, I don’t watch TV”
We have several important referendum issues in Maryland this cycle and the calling is getting intense.
My husband flatly refuses to take polls.
I also seem to get them while I’m cooking. I could usually answer a live person while cooking, but the automated would be difficult.
I answer them. I have nothing better to do.
I lie like the black-hearted villian that I am.
I also tell them I am naked and the sound of their voice arouses me.
For some reason, they rarely call back..:)
You don’t invite them over for an in depth poll?
I used to work for this awful push-polling company and can tell you that most of the people making the calls are earning minimum wage and it is a grueling, psychically bruising, mind-numbing job. I was in a new town, and it was the only job I could get. People would blast air horns into my ear, cuss me out… something inside me died on that job.
So I implore you, don’t take it out on the callers. They probably have it bad enough as it is.
I am always polite on the phone, even to unsolicited callers. I have to be- my phone number is very close to that of both a major local business and a local government office, so I’m always getting misdials.
Courtesy costs nothing, and avoids inflicting unnecessary emotional trauma on people who simply made a mistake. Even pollsters. (Yes, calling me is a mistake- at least, that’s how I see it.
)
cheers
eon
HA,
I once moved into an apartment in San Francisco and the phone I got had the number which phonetically was xxx-MUN1. Of course the number to get bus info was xxx-MUNI. I was perplexed for a few weeks why people would call for bus info. If I knew the info (i.e. route of the 30 Stockton) I’d give it.
Eventually I had to change the number.
“Why should I waste my time talking to these people who will skew the results anyway?”
Zombie, that is my husband’s words almost exactly. And he has a strong background in statistics.
90% of the time, I don’t answer. 10% of the time, just for fun, I give them the “Christopher Walken” treatment (Saturday Night Live).
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/3325110
Add me to: I never used to answer pollsters, but recently I have started answering, to counter the inaccuracies in earlier polls.
Apparently my opinion is worth money. Someone paid the polling company to collect it and they are polling the person contacting me to collect it. Why should I give that away for free? I have something of value and they want it for nothing. If they want to put me on retainer, I will make myself available to answer their polls. My answer when they call wanting my opinion is “how much is it worth to you”? If the person on the other end goes “huh?” I say “someone is paying you to get it, it must be worth something, it’s MY opinion, after all, what am I getting out of the deal?” That’s when they hang up.
Also, many of the longer term unemployed have probably either lost their phone lines or are screening their calls because bill collectors are after them. They aren’t getting in touch with millions of Americans who are going to walk in that polling place and mark their ballot muttering “I got your stimulus right here”.
A census taker questioned me once… I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.
You gotta buy me a new keyboard!
I have only been contacted once for a political poll several years back, despite having a listed landline for over 20 years. The poll was a “Push Poll” by PPP and it was a joke, unless I stridently disagreed with the premise of each question, my only response choices were varying degrees of agreement. I presume they now do not make it past my caller ID screen. Plus I am on the Do Not Call List.
I am an Indepentent Libertarian, and who will most likely support some of the Republican candidates.
And there’s always the “no answer = Obama voter” logic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=C__xOdPPZFo
Nice. I added that video as an update near the end of the post.
I lie every time. Well, that’s not quite true. Sometimes, if it’s a real person rather than a bot, I’ll ask him (or her), “Is Tony there? I talked to Tony last time. I liked Tony. Is Tony there? Is he? I WANT TONY.”
That’s why we’re called Conservatives.
It’s none of their business.
My parents taught us; never discuss salary, religion, or politics with strangers.
I’m in PA and get 4 to 6 calls a day.
I answer, breathe heavy and say loudly: Mommy, it’s Obama!
Then I just lay the phone down till they hang up.
So far, I’ve not been called. It could be because of personal geography.
I will say, that as an ex-pollster of sorts, I am not surprised by the answers.
On another note, robots do nothing for me. Unless you’re an actual person, I won’t talk to you.
I think we are at least 12 years past the use of the telephone poll. We have email and the internet. We need something internet based.
I get polled occasionally. I only respond to pollsters that have a ‘live’ person on the other end. I tell them I am a Libertarian and am still undecided. This seems to cut down the amount of polling calls I get for a while.
I stopped answering my phone at all almost 10 years ago. I let the answering machine screen the calls. For a while I even turned off all of the ringers. Close to 90% of the calls I was getting were marketing, charities, political campaigns or pollsters. Not answering seems to have cut down the number of these types of calls. My family, friends and co-workers know about my policy and that I will pick up or call them back if they leave a message.
I never answer polls of any kind. First of all, I’m on the Do Not Call registry, so telemarketers use fake polls to get around that.
Secondly, any pollster who opens the call by calling me by name is automatically marked as suspicious, even if it’s a “real” poll. If you call me, and say, “Hello, am I speaking to (eon)?”- and then tell me the poll is “anonymous” and/or “confidential”, pardon me if I don’t believe you.
Doubly so if the pollster is shilling for the present administration. I’m more likely to conclude you’re tacitly telling me, “If you don’t support The One, I’ll make sure the IRS and Homeland Security are made aware of your apostasy, you heretic.”
Third, I will not be “push-polled”. If a pollster tries to make me say I support something or someone, even if I do, their motivations are automatically suspect. I assume they are being paid, by whoever supports the candidate and/or “issue” they want me to support, to come up with numbers “proving” that that candidate and/or issue is Good, Right, True, and A Sure Winner. And that, of course, anyone who opposes same is Bad and Evil and Should Be Flayed Alive. Sorry, but I always expect the Spanish Inquisition.
My response is always the same. If it’s a robocall, I simply hang up, having long ago learned that while they must say “press (whatever)to discontinue calls” to comply with FCC regulations, they are not required to abide by my desire not to be bothered.
If it is a live caller, I always say, “I’m sorry, but I do not participate in polls of any kind, for any reason. Please put me on your do not call list. Thank You, Goodbye.”
Incidentally, I do it in a cheery voice. It drives “progressives” insane.
cheers
eon
“Sorry, but I always expect the Spanish Inquisition.”
Back to the comfy chair with you! And no biscuits with your tea!
Haven’t seen that skit in “eons.”
As a former statistician I can teel that when answer rate is so low there is a risk of a significant bias: “normal” ^people don’t answe, only the most militant answer. Historically, and despite the Tea Party that tends to versample the left.
Comptenet statisticains use several tricks to eleiminsite the militancy bias but they are not 100% reliable, require base data and tend to fail when there is an evolution respective to the past.
If I am right that 9% answer rate hevaily favors the Left.
1 – It’s a waste of my time
2 – it’s a waste of their time to call me
3 – I really don’t care about their polls. Pay me to answer and I’ll care.
The polls are run for profit, not accuracy. Not that their anything wrong with profit. I’ts simply a fact that you don’t profit from me personally if I don’t buy your product. And I’m not buying that product.
No poll can be accurate when it only samples 9% of the population that care enough to answer the phone.
What is wrong with prfit? Virtually everything is run for profit including bakeries but it happens atht you only make a profit if you deliver a godd product for the price.
JFM – read my comment again, carefully this time.
Up until this election cycle, I refused to participate. This time I am pleasant to all who call and lie my butt off. As a result, I’m certain there is no reason to believe their results are accurate … and looking at the comments here only bolsters my belief that the results published are wildly inaccurate.
Democrats/liberals have gotten a lot more violent, in addition to outright lying.
Try putting a bumper sticker on your nice car supporting any Republican; It’s an open invitation to get keyed or run into with a shopping cart.
This same attitude is evident in the polling. If they don’t like the responses you give, they have the right to call you back and harass you since you accepted a call from them previously, and they have you on record as accepting their call.
Where’s the benefit or reward in answering their calls? Screw ‘em.
Just who do these polls benefit? Themselves, mostly. And they can tailor their results to dazzle any sucker, er, I mean customer.
I’ve long wondered how long it will take people to become “media savvy” enough to realize that it isn’t against the law to ignore them and it isn’t mandatory to answer their questions. “Who will you vote for?” “Which side are you on?” “How did you feel when they told you your child had been murdered?”
“May I ram that microphone up your nose?”
I usually hand the phone to my 4 year old daughter, I tell her Elmo just called and wants to see what she wants for Christmas.
That is really funny! I don’t have any four year olds running around me anymore, but I do remember a couple of them.
Like Andrew Koenig above, I’m on the do-not-call list, and I get a *lot* of telemarketing calls that begin by claiming to be surveys. I actually like surveys — real surveys — so I tend to give these the benefit of the doubt and listen until their nature is obvious. As a ballpark figure, I’d say that no more than one in ten of the telephone “surveys” I receive is anything other than a lead-in to an illegal ad for a product.
Only one-tenth of the remaining one-tenth (that’s one in one hundred of all survey calls) are surveys worthy of the name, rather than one or two questions followed by a political robopitch. (E.g. “Are you likely to vote?” “Whom did you vote for in the last election?” followed by “In 2012, given all the issues, you should vote for X, because….” or “Press 1 to sign this petition to be sent to your Congressman….”)
And of those one in a hundred “surveys” that are real surveys, no more than a third are Rasmussen or Zogby; the rest have obviously skewed questions.
I’m not surprised that so few people are bothering to answer them. If I didn’t really like surveys, I wouldn’t do so myself.
I pay for my phone line. For them to use it without my permission and interruopt me to boot is unethical.
I never get called.
Democratic pollster Patrick Caddell’s speech at the “Accuracy in Media Conference” on the media, their polling, and their skewed reporting practices:
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/09/29/mainstream-media-threatening-our-country-future/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
To top all this off, we have the clear and everpresent bias from Gallup polling. Just today we have a new poll showing that Americans WILDLY favor Obama over Romney on nearly every metric.
One big problem, it is a poll of ADULTS. I’m sorry, but a month from the election and Gallup is still polling ADULTS? Are they serious? How about LIKELY VOTERS Gallup?
Regardless, there is historical precedent that all the excitement of bogus polling is for naught. There is not evidence that fake MSM polling has any effect on actual voting at all. As a matter of fact, if you look at 1980, it appears that the fake polls may have actually helped Reagan. NYTimes polls were off by as much as 16 points and it didn’t appear to help Carter at all.
I let the answering machine take these calls, and only answer when my caller ID tells me I know the caller. I was surprised to find, as I listened to the machine, that it is an Obama supporter.
And another credible author chimes in; Michael Barone.
With all this publicity on polling, it’s credibility is sinking fast. I’m loving every minute!
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/328884/particulars-polls-michael-barone
1. I’ve been cellphone-only for ten years.
2. I’ve only been polled once, ever, which is weird because I spent almost 7 years living in major swing states. I hung up because it was a robocall.
3. If anyone I didn’t know contacted me and asked me who I was voting for, I’d tell them to mind their own beeswax.
THE COMMUNISTS FOUND THE WAY TO TAKE OVER. IT IS CALLED “21ST CENTURY SOCIALISM” COMMUNIST DISINFORMATION, AMERICAN-STYLE. Shocking revolutionary roots not just of Obama, but top advisers Jarrett and Axelrod too Editor’s note: Who could have imagined that one of the most audacious disinformation campaigns in American history would turn out, according to a recently declassified FBI file, to have a direct connection … READ MORE: http://bwcentral.org/2012/09/c…
It’s 0% in this house for all political donations, mail, and phone calls. And 100% at the voting booth.
No landline.
I get telemarketer robo-calls on my cell phone several times every month. It’s illegal and I’ve filed complaints but it still happens.
I’m in red-hot Florida, along the I4 corridor. My phone rings all day long, and I ignore it as best I can.
I didn’t see mention in the comments of the personal exit polling outside voting presincts. We had early voting for the primaries for Senator and Congressman, etc, back in August, generally at the public libraries. When I voted early, there was a well dressed young lady and a shirt and tie young man with clipboards standing outside the local library, trying to poll people after they voted.
So 2 seemingly innocuous young people, politely standing right at the edge of the 100 foot line, could only get maybe 1 in 5 people to stop and talk to them. I wasn’t sure if they were for or against any candidate, but they were only trying to talk to people coming out of the library after voting. I have to admit I didn’t stop and talk to them either.
How any polling could collect enough samples to be relevant is beyond me.
I always answer the polls! I don’t always answer honestly. In fact the only poll I do answer honestly is Rasmussen. I lie like the devil to all the others. I like to think I’m not alone in that.
The only poll I have participated in this election season was the Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) poll recently (and I do not live near Columbus). They did not call my house, they sent a mail survey to the address where I am registered to vote. They included a self addressed stamped envelope and a deadline for return mailing. I took the time to answer this survey and mail it back (same day I received it) because of the way it arrived. They took the time to send the mailing out, printed the envelopes and used actual first class stamps on the postage paid return envelopes(which some intern probably had to attach to the envelopes).
I’m also interested in seeing the results of the poll which should be out this week.
My mom was called by a pollster a week ago and nearly hung up on him when he tried to argue with her when she said that she liked Paul Ryan. She is not a die-hard republican by any means, she’s one of those rare, honestly moderate folks, and she honestly just likes Paul Ryan. And he tried to scoff at her and argue with her about it.
Since when is it a poller’s job to argue with the people they’re polling? Aren’t they supposed to record opinions, not try to change them to their own personal beliefs?
Polls or no polls, I’d like to know why Romney isn’t beating Obama like a dead horse in any poll you care to mention.
I really have to wonder, are the people who are in charge of campaign strategy really working for Romney or are they taking money from the Democrats on the sly? It’s like McCain’s campaign all over again, they squander their advantages and seem to try to compete on the basis of their weakest areas.
The economy is in the tank, gas/energy prices are high, we’ve been attacked by terrorists several times (on our own soil no less), the national debt has doubled, unemployment hasn’t gotten any better…the list goes on for miles. It should be like shooting fish in a barrel, but Romney’s campaign seems to be almost criminally inept.
Romney has the media dead set against him. His apparent “incompetence” is entirely illusory; no matter what he does, the media slanders him for it.
Just be sure you don’t become so despondent that you forget to vote for Romney. Your fears are exactly what these media clowns and the Communist in our White House are looking for. Romney is doing whatever he can with the cards stacked entirely against him. If the media won’t report your message, you have to buy your air time. This is expensive but it will be done so keep your tips up. We are going to win or else everyone will be the losers. ABO2012
I decline to answer because if I say I’m not voting for Obama they will sneer at me as a racist.
Not polled this season. We have a VOIP land line (package deal w/internet) but there’s no phone attached. Come to think of it, we have a couple of ‘em. We’re cellular only.
If it were a political poll, I’d lie to them anyway… easy enough to figure out from the questions how the pollsters are leaning…
I can’t stand being called by these guys. I have no idea who they are or what they do with the data they collect. They always represent some group that no one has ever heard of. I don’t trust them and I don’t care about the results. The only survey I care about is the one we take on Election day, even if that is becoming a dinosaur with early voting.
I had an odd call, live person. ID’d themselves as some Conservative group; caller had an ethnic/black accent. Said they were testing an ad, and asked me to listen to it. I said OK. Voice-over was a very angry nutcase spouting every irregularity about BHO’s history – where are the transcripts, what about that CT SSN, various “born in Kenya” citations etc. You could just picture a wild-eyed “birther” by the VO. After the ad is finished, the caller comes back on the line and eagerly asks “well, what did you think of that?” I replied “frankly, not very much.” And with that, the caller hung up. Somehow I smell a rat.
Caller ID-
I don’t know anyone with caller ID that would answer an unknown number-which all polling calls have .
So we are left with people that are either so lonely they will answer any phone call, too cheap to spring for Caller ID and so ignorant about how data may be used that they will blurt out whatever is on their mind.
And these are the people that are directing the ebb and flow of this campaign in this most significant election in our nation’s history?
I lie to pollsters frequently.
I give them absurd answers. I tell them I can’t answer rigged questions.
Since every poll’s sample is self selected, none are truly scientific. It’s like trying to study a population of fish using baited hooks to collect them.
The only facts you really know pertain to those fish that take the bait.
I live in White Plains, NY. Known as a somewhat “Reagan Democrat” hood. I was at a comedy club in town this weekend. The comedian was a quite funny Black comedian, and he started in with some Romney jokes. No one laughed. He made a few quick comments about how great Obama was, and there was total silence in the audience. Now, this was a supposedly liberal, professional, mostly Jewish suburban wealthy audience. So the pollsters on both sides have written off New York State.
I was not even excited about my Romney vote, living here. But now I think maybe he’ll get good numbers in NYS. I don’t think he’ll win the state but if the drones don’t vote, who knows? That audience reaction really surprised me. I was expecting applause for Obama and boos for Romney. My impression is that the fact that business generally sucks for everyone, and gas is bankrupting New Yorkers is rubbing off as a really angry, sour mood toward the President. I think people are going to go in and pull it for Romney, without much fanfare. And I don’t think the drones will vote. Polls be damned, that’s what I think.
‘All of the above’ is the correct answer.
Ask yourself who are the 9%, who are home all day, available and willing to waste their time answering what is just as likely be a ‘push poll’?
Next time you hear poll results that just don’t square with what your lying eyes are telling you, now you know why.
Being from Iowa, we are called almost nightly by some polster. I’ve take to identifying my self as a black Democrat who previously voted Obama but am strongly aligned with Romney this time around. What are the odds that my call is not included in the stats?
As an unaffiliated voter along with others in my home, we get polled a lot, my spouse hangs up. If I answer (I don’t have caller ID on all phones), I will hang up for any automated poll, if they cannot bother to speak to me live, I refuse to push buttons on my phone to answer questions. If there is a live caller, all I tell them is I will vote, who I am voting for is private. With today’s technology, there is too much personal information complied by both parties.
I screen via caller-ID, and only pick up if I recognize the number. So far I am unaware if I’ve gotten any polling calls.
Also, I am at work during the day.
Finally, even if I did find myself picking up I wouldn’t answer once I realized I was being polled. I am afraid they’d use my answers to target me, my family, and/or my property.
I screen my calls. If I don’t know the caller or the caller does not leave a call back number, forget it.
On the other hand, we have had supposedly objective contributers to PJ Media arguing within the last week that, although the polls may incorrectly favor Democrats, it certainly isn’t because they are deliberatly puching an agenda.
But if the pollsters aren’t biased, why don’t they make it abundantly clear that they are getting a single digit reponse rates? Could it possibly be that they have an agenda? Oh, silly me. Of course they don’t have an agenda. That would be wrong.
As for me, I don’t answer calls that I don’t recognize on caller id, so I’ve never been polled. But if I ever got a call from a pollster, at the first hint of bias, I would ream the questioners ass….for the simple reason that there is probably a 90% chance that the questioner is a leftist…for the simple reason that leftists have certainly infiltrated the polling companies…for the simple reason that leftists have infiltrated every other opinion-shaping organization in the country. It’s what they do, since they always lose in a fair fight.
But of course, I can’t “prove” that.
and oh, btw, Pat Cadell flatly stated last week that many polling companies deliberately slant their polls. It was only one of three reasons he gave for slanted polls, but he made it clear that deception is often deliberate. But what does he know.
I accidentally discovered that poll takers aren’t allowed to hang up. Just don’t answer a question right out, consider both sides audibly, refuse also to be undecided – wait a minute, I’m not undecided at all – and so forth. Never hang up.
Eventually the poll taker will answer the question for you and hang up, but it’s taken twenty minutes.
As someone who always refuses to participate in telephone polls, I have constantly questioned how accurate can a poll be when there is substantial non-participation?
I have been told that the polling agencies have weighting factors and otherwise correcting factors to compensate for non-responders. But I have never heard a convincing explanation to make me think anything other than non-responders are simply ignored. As hard as I try, I can’t come up with even a semi-accurate method of determining what a person thinks when they won’t tell you anything. In other words, how can you know what’s in the black box, when it’s a black box?
Polls are somewhat useful for trending, but this presenting polls as snapshots of reality is ridiculous. Obama and Romney have each been polling between 45% and 49% for several weeks. With a self-reported error margin of +/- 3%, that should tell you the candidates are virtually tied, and that’s really all those polls can do. But the media keeps trumping a 49%-47% Obama lead in the polls as an indication he’s way ahead. Does anyone understand what “margin of error” means?
And top that off, with the historical overrating of Democrats, I’m not worried a bit about the current poll numbers, except for the Republicans and Independents who buy into this nonsense,
This could be a repeat of one of the Presidential elections during the 1920s (probably 1924), when a magazine did a telephone survey that proved very inaccurate. The reason was that at that time only well-to-do people had phones.
The dynamics here are different. Phones are common, but a willingness to answer calls from an unknown source and answer questions from a stranger or robot has dropped dramatically. Call ID is one reason for the first. I’m not sure why the second is true other than that, well before this election season, I got tired of taking robot calls and began to simply hang up on them. Others may be feeling the same.
And, as one other poster noted, people are discovering just how easy it is with modern technology to keep track of a person’s views over time and link them to other data that could be used to your detriment.
Actually I’m ~90% sure that was 1936 (read about it a long time ago). The phone poll predicted a big win for Alf Landon over FDR, but in the depths of the Great Depression only the wealthy had phones, so the Landon skew was tremendous.
1936 was even more famous for another poll that predicted Landon would win, this one by the Literary Digest. That magazine went out of business soon afterward.
We get 10-15 calls a week from politicos or pollsters. Until last week, we just hung up. Now, we don’t answer at all if we don’t know the number on the caller ID. Obama is Nixon. He has an enemy’s list. Since we’ve sent money to Republicans, we’re probably already on it, but just in case he hasn’t gotten our number yet, we’ll express our opinions in the privacy of the voting booth (if that is still private) rather than waving a red political flag, especially since we really don’t know who is on the other end of the line…no matter who they say they are.
Be proud and open that you sent a contribution to Romney. Obama is the Communist and the only way to defeat a Communist is to confront him head on wherever we can. I might make his list, but it is a list I would be proud to be found on. Bring it Mr. Commie President. I wear a big Romney/Ryan ball cap to the grocery store to convince the stupid people that everyone is voting for Romney this year. It is silly, but so are the stupid people, so when in Rome…… My point is that these people are not to be feared. They are to be loathed. ABO2012
A second technique with pollsters, and it also works with home siding salespeople, is asking your own questions to see if you can find a common hobby to talk about.
I talked to a window saleslady with a Doberman for an hour.
Oops, I must correct my previous remarks. After posting, I remembered the magazine’s name and that was enough for me to find what Wikipedia says about their flawed poll. Keep in mind that from 1920-32, this Literary Digest poll had correctly predicted the winner. People had come to trust it. It was in 1936 that it proved very wrong, predicting Landon would beat FDR when FDR won in a landslide.
*****QUOTE******
In retrospect, the polling techniques employed by the magazine were to blame. Although it had polled 10 million individuals (only about 2.4 million of these individuals responded, an astronomical sum for any survey),[4] it had surveyed firstly its own readers, a group with disposable incomes well above the national average of the time (shown in part by their ability still to afford a magazine subscription during the depths of the Great Depression). The magazine also used two other readily available lists: that of registered automobile owners and that of telephone users. While such lists might come close to providing a statistically accurate cross-section of Americans today, this assumption was manifestly untrue in the 1930s. Both groups had incomes well above the national average of the day, which resulted in lists of voters far more likely to support Republicans than a truly typical voter of the time.
In addition, although 2.4 million responses is an astronomical number, it is only 24% of those surveyed, and the low response rate to the poll is probably a factor in the debacle. It is erroneous to assume that the responders and the non-responders had the same views and merely extrapolate the former on to the latter. Further, as subsequent statisical analysis and study have shown, it is not necessary to poll 10 million people when conducting a scientific survey. A much lesser number (such as 1,500 persons) if appropriately chosen is adequate in most cases.
George Gallup’s American Institute of Public Opinion achieved national recognition by correctly predicting the result of the election, and for correctly predicting the results of the Literary Digest poll to within about 1%, using a smaller sample size of 50,000.[4]
This debacle led to a considerable refinement of public opinion polling techniques and was largely regarded as spurring the beginning of the era of modern scientific public opinion research.
******END QUOTE******
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Literary_Digest
Flawed samples and a low response rate are what’s being debated this time around too. And notice that both 1936 and today are years into economic bad times. The resulting sense of insecurity and ill-temper about politics may partially explain the low card return rate (1936) or unwillingness to give views over the phone (2012).
I once worked in marketing research and over time became more and more concerned about the reliability of the work we were doing. We were accurate to the Nth degree but I questioned whether we were talking with the right people and asking them the right questions. Because of this past experience I like to cooperate on surveys when I can. I figure, what the heck, the guy on the phone is just reading a screen at minimum wage. I know for a fact that constant rejections don’t make for a good day.
However, there was one recently who stopped me cold. I generally try to use the screening questions to judge who the research is for. I don’t tailor my responses but I have been known to color them differently. The last survey had no screening questions just, “who do you plan to vote for in the US Senate race?” I asked which company he worked for and got, “a national polling company.”
“What’s the name of the company/”
“Its name is National Polling Company.”
As far as I know no company with that name exists. Standard intros include the name of the company in most surveys. It won’t be the client’s name but Maritz, Nielsen, or Gallup are not afraid to put their name on the top and, I believe, collect a measure of respectability to the poll by giving it their label.
“National Polling Company” lost me right there. I’m guessing it was some kind of push poll but didn’t stick around to find out.
I overheard my wife telling off a pollster recently and asking to be removed from their list. Her reason? They called sometime between 7:30 – 8:30 (primetime hours) which is right in the middle of us putting our three kids to bed. So I guess that means married-with-young-children may very well be an under-sampled demographic in these polls. FTR, we’re both voting Romney – as I understand are most married parents.
So, if there are only 9% of the people responding to polls, how can that number represent the masses? And, the liberal/biased media will continue to tout these bogus poll numbers for political purposes. Sad.
There have been several people who are Gary Johnson supporters reporting that when they get a call from a pollster, they are asked, “Who are you supporting, Obama or Romney.”. They reply that they are voting for Gary Johnson. The pollster then tells them that they can’t accept that answer and that they have to pick Obama or Romney. People then report that the pollster tries to phrase the question in such a way to force a reply of Obama or Romney, to which they won’t budge and still pick Johnson. The pollster often gives up and says, ” I’ll just put you down as undecided.”
Those pollsters should more accurately put you down as supporting Obama. I know I do. What a way to waste your vote and end up as a servant of a Communist government. Gary Johnson can go to hell with all of his high minded principles, for all I care. I want to defeat totalitarianism and so should any self respecting Libertarian. Sheesh. ABO2012
It is everyone’s civic duty to lie to pollsters Especially the ones of the political persuasion. We should try to be achieve maximum mischief in our poll responses. Make them embarrass themselves and pour their resources out on barren ground.
The stuffed-shirt solons will probably try to make it illegal. Watch for the first one to introduce such a bill in congress, and you’ll know who is the biggest hypocrite.
It is citizens’ right to deceive politicians. They lie to us all the time. Send them swarming off a cliff, like the lemmings they are!
After the polling is done, try mischief voting. Its even more fun. Vote for third-party candidates and pseudonymous write-ins. “Mike Hunt” is a good one, along with G. Raffe, Ima Hogg, and Elmer Fudd. (Fudd is actually more qualified than most candidates, and has all the right attributes.)
Its all about denying office (or continuity of office) to rats, dodgers and scoundrels. The only way we’ll ever get off the “all politics, all the time merry-go-round is to put a stick in the spokes of the political machinery and make it a bad business model.
Keep the natterers guessing. Don’t tell anybody whom you’re going to vote for, especially when you’re planning to “stick it to the Man”.
Careful, there. Ima Hogg was an actual person.
“Mike Hunt,” of course, is the famous faux person of Porky’s fame.
If I was going to make a nonsense write-in vote, it would be for the Phillie Phanatic. At least he wouldn’t screw things up worse.
I don’t answer my home phone, but if I do happen to pick up, I do co-operate with political pollsters. I’ve even answered their ‘general political knowledge’ questions they use when looking to baseline their ‘very informed, moderately informed, etc’ polls. [I got them all right but blew one of the easiest ones, forgetting HJC was SoS.]
I have never responded to a call from a pollster. Usually spend 2 seconds telling them politely “I’m not interested” and hang up. I did let one particularly annoying one talk to my dog for a minute.
I have been getting a lot of calls on both my cell phone and my work phone with area codes I do not recognize. I NEVER answer a call from a number I don’t know, no matter what phone I’m on. So I don’t know if these were polls or not, but “mysteriously” they never leave a message, which just validates my standard procedure. Any call of any importance would leave a message, which I could further screen.
All answers continuing to be logged in the update!
Keep ‘em coming!
Love your country? Lie to a pollster. I do it every chance I get. My preferred technique is to answer the phone with an accent and then in addition to lying, force the caller to repeat questions several times (this burns their time). Then offer misleading and inconsistent (contradictive if possible) answers to their questions.
With the advent of 501(c) and 527 political entities, polling information is used to carefully calculate and time messaging to sway votes. As long as this is effective, there will be groups using it and paying for it. If we contaminate the data badly enough, perhaps they’ll be discouraged…
A get-out-the-vote type came to my door a few weeks ago. He was wearing an Obama cap, and his first question was: “How interested are you in this year’s presidential election?” I told him, very politely, that I am VERY interested, and I’m voting for Mitt Romney. He smiled, wished me a good day, and left.
We get only one poll call a month or so when we’re actually at home (we almost never check our landline voicemail, so there could be robo-calls on there that we missed), but I always respond honestly. I could care less about bias or being considered a racist by the pollster, I just want the Left to know that I do not support them or their goals. But then again, one of my own goals in life is to be the victim of a Maoist struggle session (they say you can judge a woman by her enemies…), so I have no problem if they want to target me.
A lot of younger people do not have land line phones and have month to month cell phones whose numbers change quite often. Its impossible to get much useful upfront data about who is on the other end.
I was getting several calls from conservative groups as I’m a registered Republican. I’d prefer to be “Unenrolled” or “Independent” like my former state of Mass., but my state only allows for closed primaries, so I had to choose which party best fits my values and it sure as hell wasn’t the Democratic Socialist Party!
The liberal media and many on Fox News are still touting thw bogus poll results stating that Obama is ahead “in key battleground states.”. Bull!
Most people I speak with, including the people who fell for the hope and change snake oil pitch have said they will NOT vote for Obama again. Many say they are supporting Romney or not voting at all, which I find highly offensive. It is our civic duty to vote. Many military servicemembers paid the ultimate price, so voting should be a priority. Most conservatives, moderate conservatives, Independents, and some reasonable Democrats are voting Romney/Ryan!
These fake polling results are a psych out game. Haben’t we been demoralized enough the past four, long, miserable years?!? Gov Romney was my governor and did an excellent job. He has integrity and won’t sell out fir mobey or power like most politicians do. Romney inherited a $3 BILLION deficit when taking office. He made tough cuts in spending, cut waste (Romney loathes waste and treats taxpayer dollars as his own). He also cut out fraud and duplication in gov’t agencies! He eliminated the entire debt, cut taxes 19 times, AND left a $2 BILLION surplus!!! His Democratic successor has run it into the ground again. Records, not rhetoric should mean something. And he took NO SALARY as governor, or running the Salt Lake City Olympics. He also donates 30% of his vast fortune to charities and the liberal media treats him like a criminal.
We have a choice: survival of America (Romney/Ryan) or the death of America (Obama/Biden). It blows my mind that people really think there is. “choice!!!”
America cannot afford four more years of Obama abd his failed policies.
God bless America!!!
I’ve never taken a political poll but I have taken a few consumer research surveys. I start off with thoughtful answer and then I get about halfway through and then I just totally start checking stuff off at random. I somewhat agree with everything and just throw a thoroughly disagree/agree in there for randomness.
We have a voip line and we get massive survey / opinion calls.
I understand that the folks doing this crap frequently require psych counselling, I used to do my best to see that they got their moneys worth.
Then I started thinking of all I learned living in the chicagoland area for far longer than any sane person should and just quit doing them. Not interested in having obama’s army / union thug show up at my door for a little “attitude adjustment time”…
Other person here will occasionally take one when they are feeling bored and the lie their arse off
.
I’m part of the 9% that gets interview but I ALWAYS give the the opposite answer of what I believe. I just don’t believe in polls, so I do my best to foul them.
Received numerous calls from pollsters. Told each one that I don’t participate in polls. My reason is simple, I have zero faith in the honesty and integrity of those conducting these polls and those who report on them. Years ago, I would have been willing to answer a political poll (circa Clinton v. Dole).
As to whether I’m motivated to vote this time around? I’d walk through broken glass to vote against the current President.
Everyone I know who has been called are saying Obama gets the vote…lolo just for fun.
Another one: I never get called, probably because I’m not a part of left leaning groups that are the source of “unbiased samples” used by pollsters.
in fact when I tried some “election advise” websites here in the runup to our parliamentary elections earlier (and the same in previous election cycles) they’d tell me to vote for the communists or greens irrespective of the answers to their questions, including questions which parties I’d definitely not vote on.
I’m female, technically latina, immigrant, a novelist and have memberships to every local museum. Our phone never stops. And I’m REGISTERED Republican (my cry of liberation, once what traditional publishers thought stopped mattering that much, except for Baen which doesn’t mind my politics.)
Seems polls in America now elicit the same sentiments from right-leaning interviewees as they did in Israel in ’96, Peres vs Netanyahu. The polls all showed a big win for Peres, at night journalists declared a Peres win on TV, but by morning Netanyahu was president. I asked around after that – turned out most of my right-wing friends, myself included, had lied or refused to respond to pollsters…
Where are those unreachable 38%? I can tell you right now they’re probably like me and simply stopped answering their phones. My phone begins ringing around 8:00 a.m. and doesn’t stop until 9:00 p.m. on the nose. Nearly all the calls are from someone sitting in a political phone bank seeking a donation. Think about it, HUNDREDS of calls, nearly every single one looking for money, and often those aren’t even tax deductible because the caller is representing a SuperPac or similar organization.
Americans simply don’t have that kind of money to throw around anymore, particularly at a candidate that isn’t even guaranteed to provide something in return (as in your choice of candidate actually winning). Between the daily barrage of snail mail, emails and phone calls, I literally feel like I’m under assault 24/7.
I give what I can when I can to whom I choose, and I’m tired of the harrassment.
I sympathize with you Al, but as long as you continue to give, the solicitors will continue to swarm you. I gave small amounts to my favorite Republican candidates a few years ago and it was like pouring blood into a poole of piranas, I was swarmed with telephone and mail solicitations until I was about to gag. It took several years of politely, and then impolitely, telling them that I wasn’t giving any more, and why. It’s sad to be treated by the party you support as nothing more than a money dispenser they can dunn at any hour of the day or evening. I wish I could give money without that, but it wouldn’t be much anyway.
My own practice, generally, is to refuse to participate. The main reason is they won’t pay me. Here the polling organization is making money off of opinions that are freely given. The opinion has economic value, but most everyone just GIVES it away. I don’t.
Every once in awhile, though, I do participate, just for fun. And I lie. Baldly. Every time.
I lie to pollsters every chance I get. We’re getting bombarded here in Virginia so if you like throwing a wrench in the works, you get lots of opportunities. Just the other day I answered the phone in my best faux gay lisp and told the pollster I was voting for Obama. When they asked if I would like to volunteer, I told them I couldn’t due to the ill effects of a botched sex-change operation. I can’t wait to see the looks on the faces of Special Ed, Chris Tingle, and Madcow come November!
I’m a grannie in Ohio. I have a cell phone, and also have a land line. Rarely answer the land line…we are getting six to eight political calls a day. If there is a poll and I’m standing near the phone I will answer and take a poll.
I lie though. Happy to know I’m not alone in lying to pollsters.
Polls provide nothing of any value. People have had it with the media. The only people cooperating with the media are die hard communists with huge anti-social chips on their shoulders…in other words-polls tell you what the losers, who have no money, rarely vote, and who hate all businesses and everyone else, think
I had a call fro Bank Of America the other day. They asked me to take part in a survey. Then the person went on to read a disclaimer that said any idea for any product that I gave them during the survey was their property and that I would have no rights to it. BWAH HA HA HA HA HA –that is where the survey ended!
I am with granny from Ohio. I too have a cell phone and a land line. the land line is my sort of pest collector. The ringer is turned off. I never answer it, just check the messages about once every three months. Unidentified or anonymous calls on my cell do not get answered.
I lie like a rug to pollsters. You have to be careful doing that as they are looking for a particular demographic before they get into the heart of the poll. These days, my experience is that they are looking for the youngest person in the household of voting age. So I do the best I can to convince them I am an 18-year old black Hispanic lesbian who first voted for George Wallace in 1968. Apologies to any actual 18-year old black Hispanic lesbians who first voted for George Wallace in 1968. Then you try to give the most logically inconsistent set of answers possible based on what they are asking and where you think the poll is going. GIGO. Cheers -
I would never answer a pollster in this day & age. I’m afraid I might be harmed. This lawless administration scares me. Bumper sticker? Never. Just get into the only poll that counts on November 6.
No bumper sticker? Here in the Belly of The Beast, also known as California, I sport a “There is no Hope in Socialism” sticker. Under that one, is my DEFEAT OBAMA bumper sticker. I got them from WND and I love them!
I just don’t have a land-line, so no one knows my opinion exists
Two things: I’m a registered republican and I keep getting Obama push polls (they hit the machine and I hear them a while.)
My husband who is the least political person in this house (though also R) is afraid to answer polls because “Who knows who is on the other side?”
Oh, one more. Accidentally answered one of Obama’s organizations (was waiting for a call from overseas and that shows number unknown) and got a person with a strong accent (unplaceable) asking for my husband. My husband has a very common first name, which this person couldn’t pronounce in any recognizable fashion. So it was “May I speak to– three tries at husband’s name?” Me, “No. I don’t think you can” and hung up. Are they OUTSOURCING their calls?
I always answer every poll whether it is real, push or something in between. The reason that I do is that responding to a poll is an outsized way of making my voice heard. With a hundred million theoretical voters, and a survey of 1000 people, I essentially get to speak for 100,000 people. I don’t know any politicians, I don’t have money to give (thanks Barry) so it’s biggest bang for my buck. All politicians listen to polls on some level.
I live in a State completely controlled by Democrats. There is no way I will ever answer poll qusetions over the phone. I just don’t trust who will have access to this information. Isn’t it terrible what our country has become?
No state is completely dominated by Communists. Only the Democrat Party is. Reach your Democrat friends and tell them to vote like Americans this time and take back control of their party. ABO2012
I have been known to veer into the Norwegian that I learned during a two year stay in Norway when telemarketers call and I get annoyed. Haven’t yet run into someone who can continue the call.
If you have ever studied statistics, you know that the whole thing is a load of crap. Most of these pollsters don’t ask enough people so their sample size is too small and they probably don’t do a very good job of making a random assignment. The way in which the question is asked and the allowable answers have a dramatic effect on the outcome. Once you have all of your information you can also slant the information further by presenting it a certain way. So since statistics, by its very nature is a load of crap, that makes polls a gigantic load of crap seeing as no agency will ever make an impartial presentation of the survey information. This is one reason why I don’t participate. However the main reason I don’t participate is simply because I don’t answer the phone for telemarketers, automated messages, and political campaign shenanigans.
Caller ID is a great thing.
Any unknown, ooo, 800, 202, blocked, and others are just not picked up by us.
Any one with an “Obama phone” get polled?
Probably everyone who has one here in OH. After all, the Great Government Bribery Machine knows who has one, so odds are the pollsters have a little list of who to call.
People who pay their own phone bills, and/or don’t have a cellphone (like me), are probably not polled so much. Or at least, if their opinions don’t “sound right” (i.e., are not pro-The One), they don’t count.
After reading Dr. Hanson’s column this morning, I’d be interested in seeing the “O-Phone” numbers from CA. I’d be willing to bet that those numbers come close to matching how heavily the CA polling skews pro-Messiah.
cheers
eon
That was my point; What’s the use in polling these dupes?
Haven’t read Hanson yet; On my way now.
in-depth research article by Pew Research: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1601/assessing-cell-phone-challenge-in-public-opinion-surveys
Since many pollsters are now asking what race category I fit in, you know, to make sure we’re all properly “represented”, I was answering honestly that I was white or Caucasian, even though I have a Spanish surname. Not good enough!! Won’t get to answer any questions that way! So now I am an African-American Hispanic!~
The last pole done yesterday I answered all questions honestly until one of the final questions. The question was “Who did you vote for in 2008?” I said Obama… Maybe, just maybe, the DNC will spend an extra buck to “get my vote” back! Ha!
Anyone asks me who I’m voting for, it’s Obama. Why should I cooperate with a corrupt system?
zombie, check your mail.
Like many commenters, we use Caller ID as a screener. Anything from “PRIVATE CALLER,” “UNKNOWN NAME,” “NOT PROVIDED”, “POLITICAL CALL” or an unfamiliar number is ignored and goes to voice mail. At least 2/3 of them don’t leave a message. Note to fellow DirecTV subscribers: you can set your receiver to show incoming calls on the TV, eliminating the need to physically go to the nearest phone.
Like #21 and #97, we live within screaming distance of Orlando, so we’re inundated with both the calls listed above and political ads. Thank goodness for the “mute” button and DVR.
Note to Zombie: Suggest you give the reasons listed in your update letter designations so future responders can easily list them (perhaps with the letters A-T, since there are 20 of them). In that spirit, my reasons are B C D E F G H K R. (Definitely not S!!)
Note #2 to Zombie: Love that “We are the 91%” graphic. That belongs on a T-shirt! It would drive the Occutards nuts!!
This may be very unusual, but I got a robocall who asked me to press 1 if I wanted to take the poll. I was willing, but I have a rotary dial phone there so I couldn’t press 1. I hung up. Then I went hunting a dinosaur for dinner (not).
I consider myself a highly educated voter. So highly educated that my responses would not represent those of a “typical” voter. Because of this, I refuse to participate in polling because I believe I would only provide an anomalous data point.