Dirty tactic in a phone survey about presidential preference???

telephone survey | non-specific

[adorno]

Just got off the phone a couple of minutes ago. Phone # that called for survey: 904-274-0422, from Jacksonvilee, FL.

First survey question: If election were held today, would you say you would be voting for Obama or Romney. Press 1 for Obama, 2 for Romney.

Well, I pressed 2 for Romney. There was a pause, and I thought that perhaps my answer hadn't taken, so, I pressed 2 again.

After a brief pause, the survey (apparently an automated poll service), shot back with: Would you say that, your support for Obama is strong (not exactly those words, or not so strong (again, not those exact words, or..., that's where I hung up, since, the survey had gotten my original entry incorrect, I wasn't going to finish the survey, hoping that my responses wouldn't be counted in the survey. I'm not sure that they won't.

To me, even after pressing 2, twice, and the automated poll getting it wrong, or "deliberately" getting it wrong, tells me that, someone is tampering with surveys in order to make someone look better than he is actually doing right now.

[adorno]

I don't normally do this kind of survey, especially over the phone, and, the apparent "error" (which seemed deliberate to me) with the automated poll, tells me to avoid them in the future.

[musicman]

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[Sudetenland]

To what purpose?

[75thOVI]

Odd that. I received exactly the same call. That went exactly the same way. I guess that’s why the MFM still thinks his support is so high.

[ryan71]

There’s no way the leftists are going to let the polls run away in Romney’s favor. They view their supporters as sheep and when the sheep get a little discouraged they give up easily. Polls are vital to the left. Their basic means of propaganda.

[The Sons of Liberty]

The young and weak minded, both groups that supported the Emperor Hussein last time, are prone to the "bandwagon effect" - "if everyone one else supports a commie idiot, then it must be the cool thing to do and I should too." These are the ones that MTV's Rock the Vote is aimed at and also why the dims want the kenyan to poll better.

On the other hand, if Hussein has to resort to these tactics at this point in the campaign then he's running scared. But keep this in mind: All those electronic voting machines out there are subject to the same type of hack as you experienced, and there are countless election officials who have no qualms about allowing the dims to work their shenanigans.

[mnehring]

I guess I should stop hanging up on these polls so I can see what happens.

[C210N]

Another factor on these phone “surveys” is that union households, if they know whats good for them, will NEVER answer properly... they will know that there is only one correct answer to any question, presuming they are interested in keeping their employment...

[DJ Frisat]

I had a similar survey call last week, during which I didn't enter ANY information, I simply set the phone down and listened. (speakerphone) After my first non-response, the voice asked about my level of support for Obama. After a similar time elapsed without my replying, it asked a similar question about Romney.

I agree that these things may be biased towards Obama, but I honestly think it's best to not reply to any of these damned polls & surveys. I'm sick of the constant polling and wish they'd just do the one that counts: the election.

[Lazamataz]

“First survey question: If election were held today, would you say you would be voting for Obama or Romney. Press 1 for Obama, 2 for Obama, 3 for Obama, 4 for Obama, 5 for Obama, 6 for Obama, 7 for Obama, 8 for Obama, 9 for Obama, 0 for Obama, or hang up for Obama.”

[Haiku Guy]

If our enemies wants to delude themselves, that is a good thing.

The lesson for us is: Ride right through them! They’re demoralized as Hell!!!

[adorno]

To what purpose?

I don't understand your question.

I explained everything that happened during the phone survey, up until the time I hung up.

[adorno]

If our enemies wants to delude themselves, that is a good thing.

You and I and most FR members understand the delusion, but, the survey could be used to lie to the majority of the people who are not familiar with the tactic, and those people, since they can't be bothered to dig into the facts and the survey's methods and results, will be inclined to believe those results. The survey and the tactic is just a tool to deceive the public, and the phony results will likely convince them that, Obama is still popular and the favorite for the majority.

[RFEngineer]

If I feel particularly cranky instead of hanging up on surveys like this, I answer exactly opposite of my true feelings.

This maximizes the error in the results. Think about it- they have a statistical margin of error, but a deliberate lie is not factored in. You can torpedo every poll by lying to them - the pollsters won’t have any clue what is going on.

When anyone calls my house and asks, I’m an Obama voter.

[moovova]

Received survey with same exact wording yesterday.

Almost sounded like a live human, so when the first question was asked, I didn’t say or do anything...just hung on hoping to annoy the caller. But apparently, it was a computereized call, because the voice then launched into the second question “Would you say that, your support for Obama is strong (not exactly those words), or not...”.

I hung up.

[ken in texas]

Just out of curiosity, are you using a cordless phone?

We've been having trouble with our handsets whereby keypresses to navigate a phone tree are not transmitted or recognized. Perhaps it didn't pick up your "2" and after a while assumed you selected "1".

[skinndogNN]

That happens to me quite often, but my fingers are fat, especially on those dang cell phones.

[DefeatCorruption]

Got the same call a few minutes ago...answered all in affirmative for Romney..then it got into religion....the last question about how often I go to church...when it got to #4 and while still anticipating if there would be a #5 choice, got cut off. You’re right...seemed like an obamie poll.

[adorno]

Well, guess what, people?

Got the same call again, about 5 minutes ago.

This time (I guess after corrections or something), the computer/automated system, took my first answer correctly, where I pressed 2 for Romney. So, I decided to see where the rest of the survey would go, and, it actually seemed to record my answers correctly, since, the follow-up questions showed a dependence on the prior answers.

I didn’t really care about the religion questions, so, I entered random answers, but, the rest of the questions seemed relevant to a voter poll. Hopefully, it’s not just an exercise in futility.