Jimmy Breslin nails the problem with polling - cell phones

[yellowcanine]

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/columnists/ny-nybres163973220sep16,0,5538561.column

As in 1948 when the pollsters apparently missed the fact that Truman voters were less likely to have a telephone and therefore less likely to get polled, today there are millions of young voters ages 18-25 who use only a cell phone and thus never get polled.

[KharmaTrain]

1. Also Voice Mail...

A dirty secret the pollsters don't want you to know. People rarely answer their phones anymore. No surprise is it? Do you?

Pollsters are also handicapped by systems that won't recognize their numbers and restrictions on who and when they can call.

Also, how does a pollster verify the information from the person they call? Is this person the age they say they are or giving straight answers...or understood the question correctly. Mass call-out surveys work great only when they're followed up with specific focus groups and then studied over a period of time. That costs money and time. Pollsters don't like to waste either.

[still_one]

2. It is not just cell phones

There are young people who are not counted, old people who are not counted, disenfranchised and poor people, plus other demographic groups which have been ignored

Among other mistakes, the mistake they made in 2000 is that they assumed that those groups would not vote

They are making the same mistake this time, and this time we are going to rewrite history again...

[madinmaryland]

3. Would people respond to pollers on their cellphone?

Most people have a limited amount of minutes, and I'm not sure they would use their minutes in this fashion. I screen my cell calls.

:shrug:

[freeplessinseattle]

4. so true

and then there's those of us with dial-up and have the computer on most of the time while home (ok, not that many people have dial-up, but think about the demographic make-up of who does)

[HootieMcBoob]

5. What about the discrepancy between online polls and phone polls?

I'm not talking about the unscientific polls on websites like CNN or FOX, I'm talking about the Zogby type polls that list both their web polls that are sent out to people and the phone polls. The web polls are always way more favorable to Dem candidates?

[Lugnut]

6. I'm on a Do-Not-Call list

And have an unlisted phone number. I rarely get polling or telemarketing calls. Nobody is polling me.

[CatWoman]

7. my genius knows no bounds :)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x824008

[Beetwasher]

8. No, That's Not The Problem W/ Gallup

The problem w/ Gallup is that they are thoroughly corrupt. They are nothing more than a propoganda arm of the WH taking orders from Rove.