A look at any poll fine print reveals the dodgy methodology, laughably small sample size vis a vis the population and even dodgier jiggering of the numbers to comport with preexisting assumptions about the responses ie weighting.
Add in Robodialers and bored/obnoxious call center staff and you have a toxic brew.
And, to top it all off, any person I know and respect the intelligence of would point blank refuse to particpate in a poll, especially when they pry into voting registration, income, family size, occupation, race, age, marital status etc.
Inescapable conclusion 1: anyone participating in a phone poll is bored, gullible, foolish and/or vain.
Inescapable conclusion 2: a poll assembled from responses from bored, gullible, foolish, and vain people is worthless
Inescapable conclusion 3: polls are an insidious and constant attempt to push the Appeal To Majority fallacy.
You are totally onto the game.
No one in my family had ever been called to take a poll in our lives.
Until we briefly lived in the city limits of Detroit, Michigan years ago.
Looking at the stats on the demographics of Detroit/Wayne County provides an understanding of the pollsters motivation and goals.
We were called several times in one presidential election cycle!
However, they were more careful than to completely assume we were black or Democrat within the (313) Area Code.
In every case, we had to answer a screening question. The 1st question during the screening was always - are you for or against abortion?
IN EVERY CASE, we answered that we were against abortion,
AND IN EVERY CASE, THEY EITHER HUNG UP, OR STATED WE WERE INELIGIBLE TO VOTE, and hung up.
This happened several times in the months leading up to the actual election. They were most definitely using their polls to try and create a “Band Wagon” or “popularity” affect.