The Hang-ups of Phone Polls... Literally

The New Republic ^ | September 25, 2008 | Michelle Cottle, Christopher Orr, and Jason Zengerie

[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.

[mlocher]

Once I recognize that it is a poll, I ask if I get paid for this. I then ask if they get paid, and am always offered the answer “yes.” My reply is, “I have the information you desire, pay me and I will answer your questions.” After a long pause, they usually hang up on me.

[mlocher]

I have not been polled, but I have often thought I would just tell them that I’d vote for Obama. I am sick of the pollsters influencing the elections. Lets make them a big joke.

They are a big joke. Better yet, tell them that you are a black woman voting for McCain. That will screw up their internals. Some of these polls are done with a machine and you can get away with that.

[mlocher]

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

If congress does not get a financial rescue package by 9:30am on Monday, it sounds like many of us will not be able to afford our cell and land line phones.

[DaveArk]

Zogby is just staring the spin early:

1) Why my numbers are off

2) Why the country will not elect a socialist

3) It's the failure of campaign methods and not the campaigner

[DaveArk]

staring = starting
Jeez

[CaliforniaCon]

Either pollsters don’t call us for some reason, or we are just not here to pick up the phone. Also, we still have dial-up so when on-line, no one can get through. We do have cell phones but only for emergency use by us, so they are never “on.” Don’t know if pollsters can reach cell phones anyway.

I WISH some pollster would reach me; I’d like to give them a piece of my “bitter” mind.

[VOA]

Either pollsters don’t call us for some reason, or we are just
not here to pick up the phone. Also, we still have dial-up so
when on-line, no one can get through.

In the words of "Curly" of The Three Stooges...
"I resemble that remark!!!"

In fact, I do use dial-up (as it does seem to be more secure and
cheaper than the SUB-Optimal DSL/broadband services
here in Mid-Missouri).

But a couple of "pollsters" have gotten through and received a
courteous "Thanks, but no thanks. Click."