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The Hang-ups of Phone Polls... Literally
The New Republic ^ | September 25, 2008 | Michelle Cottle, Christopher Orr, and Jason Zengerie

Posted on 09/26/2008 3:41:54 AM PDT by Zakeet

With only six weeks left before Election Day, it's open season for polling. Eager pollsters are dialing away, trying to get people on the line who will tell them which candidate they are likely to vote for. But what about the people who don't answer their phones? Or those who say "no thanks"--or worse--and hang up? Is there a certain type of person likely to refuse the probing calls? And does that affect polling numbers?

In a January op-ed in The New York Times, Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center, warned that the disparity between polls and the outcome in the New Hampshire Democratic primary--Clinton beat Obama despite polls showing him with an advantageous margin--could have been due, in part, to the fact that less affluent whites are more likely to hang up on pollsters. "These whites who do not respond to surveys tend to have more unfavorable views of blacks than respondents who do the interviews," Kohut wrote.

So with the media now reviving questions about how race affects voters' decision-making, should we be worried that polling numbers under-represent racists (or anyone else, for that matter)? Several pollsters I spoke to this week said there isn't a notable disparity between the types of people who answer questions and those who do not. John Zogby, president and CEO of Zogby International, told me that over the past few decades, there has been a "democratization of refusals" and that there is a 95-percent confidence rate in polls' accuracy. ... Charles Franklin, co-founder of Pollster.com, said there isn't a notable partisan divide between people who agree to polls and those who refuse. "If every Republican hung up and every Democrat did an interview, the profession would be in a crisis," he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.tnr.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008election; 2008polls; electionpresident; issues; mccainpalin; polls
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To: Zakeet

I don’t answer polls. I refuse to play their game.


21 posted on 09/26/2008 4:37:07 AM PDT by ari-freedom (We never hide from history. We make history!)
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To: Zakeet

there a certain type of person likely to refuse the probing calls?

Yeah. They are called people that have real lives....


22 posted on 09/26/2008 4:37:16 AM PDT by SECURE AMERICA (Vote FOR AMERICA . Vote McCain / Palin)
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To: Zakeet

What about people who have no land lines and only cell phones?


23 posted on 09/26/2008 4:54:01 AM PDT by Question_Assumptions
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To: stevem
“racial conservatism”

Sheesh!!Doncha know!!If you don't vote for the One ...its because you're racist...and if you're racist....its because you're a conservative..../s

24 posted on 09/26/2008 5:00:11 AM PDT by mo
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To: Zakeet
Several pollsters I spoke to this week said there isn't a notable disparity between the types of people who answer questions and those who do not. John Zogby, president and CEO of Zogby International, told me that over the past few decades, there has been a "democratization of refusals" and that there is a 95-percent confidence rate in polls' accuracy. ...

I am howling with laughter. Ummm.... Beyond even the growing number of Indies, how do they know what "type of people" someone is who won't even talk to them.

I know they have registration lists, but how do they know a D is a radical socialist D or an intelligent Reagan Democrat. How do they know if an R is a drooling Snow/Collins R or a real Republican.

Fortunately they can read minds with the click of a hang up as the only clue.

25 posted on 09/26/2008 5:08:11 AM PDT by Sal (Pyrrhic Pooty just took Russia down to a 3rd class, 3rd world POS country that is dying.)
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To: Zakeet

The dirty little secret is that w/caller ID, these polls are nearly worthless. The miscalls in the primaries should tell you all you need to know.

Pray for W, McCuda and Our Troops


26 posted on 09/26/2008 5:08:50 AM PDT by bray (Drill Congress!!)
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To: bmwcyle

That is exactly what I do. A quote from the article “To adapt, survey organizations have expanded the number of people they call per survey, and they often call numbers with no answers or hang-ups as many as a dozen times to try to get responses.”

This is especially irritating. My number is on the do-not-call list. I know polling firms are exempt from do-not-call laws but the reason why I don’t want to be call is that I don’t want to be disturbed by anyone, regardless if they are a telemarketer or pollster.


27 posted on 09/26/2008 5:10:01 AM PDT by ops33 (Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired))
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To: Gorzaloon

I find that the most enjoyable means of terminating a call from a polling organization is to agree to answer the poll. Then, answer the first and every succeeding query with “I wouldn’t vote for that socialist SOB with a gun to my head.”. This usually results in confused statements and advice on how to answer the yes/no, rate 1-5, etc. Questions. If you ignore their attempts to get you back into their groove and simply repeat the mantra, they hang up and move on.


28 posted on 09/26/2008 5:11:21 AM PDT by Zippo44 (Liberal: another word for poltroon.)
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To: Zakeet
"These whites who do not respond to surveys tend to have more unfavorable views of blacks than respondents who do the interviews," Kohut wrote.


29 posted on 09/26/2008 5:12:36 AM PDT by reagan_fanatic ("And how can this be? For I am the Kwisatz Haderach! " - Barack Obama)
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To: Sal
Fortunately they can read minds with the click of a hang up as the only clue.

LOL...reminds me of a commercial for a TV show years ago...(Scene) Dark screen, phone ringing. Answering Machine Message plays: "Pyschic Detective Agency...we know who you are, we know what you want...hang up we'll call you back."

I too am on the Do Not Call List and even when I can see it's a Pollster I refuse to answer...main reason; I choose not to waste my (unpaid) time and disrupt my real life.

30 posted on 09/26/2008 5:23:05 AM PDT by borisbob69 (The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. Ec 10-2 NIV)
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To: BRL

I would do the same just for fun
( Yes I know I am a sick bastard )


31 posted on 09/26/2008 5:24:18 AM PDT by 1903A3
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To: Sal
Fortunately they can read minds with the click of a hang up as the only clue.

My wife takes those "couples" magazine quizzes and fills my answers in for me.

32 posted on 09/26/2008 5:34:48 AM PDT by HIDEK6
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To: Zakeet
I have always believed that polls should be for "OWN USE", like medicine. The organization that commissions the poll, can use it within the organization and not publish.

We all know the term sheeple. Polls can lead sheeple into the pollsters way of thinking and get the desired results. Polls are not taken to get a feel for how people are feeling, they are taken to direct an outcome and that's the outcome the commissioning organization wants.

That's my story and I'm sticken to it.

33 posted on 09/26/2008 5:42:08 AM PDT by Pit1
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To: bmwcyle
Yes.

The only political call I have answered was when the caller ID said FRED THOMPSON!

My mind locked and I grabbed the phone. Turned out to be one of those prerecorded messages and I hung up.

34 posted on 09/26/2008 5:54:35 AM PDT by fireforeffect (A kind word and a 2x4, gets you more than just a kind word.)
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To: bmwcyle
If there is not a name or I do not recognize the number on caller ID, I do not answer the phone.

Same here. I made the mistake of answering a pollster during the 2004 elections. I thought I'd NEVER get finished with that call. We get the "Political Caller" on the ID every evening. I refuse to answer.

35 posted on 09/26/2008 6:40:56 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952 (Sarah Palin is NOT worried about anything being above her pay grade!)
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To: Arrowhead1952
Same here. I made the mistake of answering a pollster during the
2004 elections. I thought I'd NEVER get finished with that call.


I had the same experience back when the San Fernando Valley
was trying to break off as a separate city from Los Angeles.
I'm pretty sure the telephone pollster was working for The LA Times
trying to drum up "evidence" the public didn't want the schism.

This household does NOT do telephone polls.
Which means we've said "No thank you" and hung up on two pollsters
already this season.
36 posted on 09/26/2008 6:45:38 AM PDT by VOA
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To: VOA
Which means we've said "No thank you" and hung up on two pollsters already this season.

I have an extension in the garage and answered it several times before I got one of those cheap caller IDs. I'd hang up on pollsters so fast. I even had one call back, and ask WHY didn't answer his questions. Before he got much more out of his mouth, I hung up on him the second time.

37 posted on 09/26/2008 7:05:33 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952 (Sarah Palin is NOT worried about anything being above her pay grade!)
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To: Arrowhead1952

I had one person call me and I hung up on a female. A male called back and started giving me grief. I found their office number and called their supervisors. I haven’t got a call from them again.


38 posted on 09/26/2008 7:17:37 AM PDT by bmwcyle (Vote McWhatshisname and PALIN)
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To: Zakeet

Wouldn’t you think that all the OBMAMANIACS would be very eager to talk to a pollster?

My guess is that because of all the negative talk about McCain in the MSM, his voters are much less eager to talk to a survey.

There may be a substantial under recording of McCain voters in these polls.


39 posted on 09/26/2008 9:17:01 AM PDT by wildbill
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To: Zakeet

bmflr


40 posted on 09/26/2008 10:00:26 AM PDT by Kevmo (Obama Birth Certificate is a Forgery. http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/certifigate/index?tab=articles)
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