Have you ever been called by a pollster?

[jfalchion]

I was back in 1996. No one I know has been called since. Could this explain why the polls are slanted?

:kick:

[tritsofme]

1. I was called in 1988, and just a few months ago.

That's it though.

[Dookus]

2. yeah

a number of times. I was also an arbitron radio pollee.

[vivalarev]

3. never!!!!

and ive been registered since 1994

[LisaLynne]

4. Never

Never. Never ... and again, never. I live in the Midwest. Do you think it's a regional thing? Or just a luck thing. After all, I've never been called for jury duty, either. Hey ... I think I'm starting to get offended! :)

[snowbear]

8. pollsters

I live in Anchorage and NO ONE would waste their time polling Alaskans on presidential polls. :P

We do however get butt-loads of local-yocal pollsters calling about city and statewide elections. The U.S. Senate race is the hot race going on up here right now. Currently, it's being filled by Lisa Murkowski, a Republican who was appointed by her father, our idiotic Governor X( ..Alaskans didn't take kindly to the nepotism issue. Aside from voting on a senate candidate, we'll vote to disallow any Governor from ever appointing a U.S. senate seat in the future.

The Democratic candidate, Tony Knowles :) has held a lead in the polls since they started taking them 10 months ago, and hopefully it will stay that way through the election!

[newyawker99]

16. Hi larissa!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Fuzz]

5. I hang up.

I hate those calls.

[Kat45]

6. No, but I recently took a Harris Poll on Chimp and US actions

I wondered if the repubs commissioned the poll so they could try to claim agreement with PNAC-type policies. A lot of the questions involved foreign policy, presenting something to see how much you agreed or disagreed. One of them asked if the US should try to weaken the military of nations that could be a threat to us!!! No shit, I couldn't believe it. I can't remember the other questions, but they were along those lines--if the US should help other countries achieve democracy, if the US should do this or that--I got the impression they were trying to achieve agreement to back-up PNAC-type goals and strategies. And the questions were phrased in such a way that it would be really easy to elicit a knee-jerk reaction of "yes, of course we should."

There were also questions about what I thought of Chimpy and how he is doing; I chose the most negative answer for each of those, because that is what I believe. When I looked at the poll results as of then, I was quite upset to see that reactions to the Chimp and the job he's doing were split pretty evenly between favorable and unfavorable.

[Maddy McCall]

7. Yes, during the gov's race here.

[efhmc]

9. Actually many time until my listed number became my computer

number and my unlisted number is the one I actually use. But the call I remember before that change took place was a hoot. They were calling to get a positive spin on the repukes' education changes in Texas. They kept asking questions that were so slanted that one could only answer the way they wanted. Well, of course, that did not work on this old babe, and I repeatedly answered with my real answer, not the choices that they gave me. Finally the poor person calling gave up and hung up. And that was my last encounter with a pollster. Polls are always about how the question is asked. That is why most think people hate multiple choice questions. The answers almost never are complete or encompassing enough.

[delete_bush]

10. Not really.

I'm not a math major but let's say there are 100 million households in the US. If they poll 1,000 households per day with no repeats,it would take 275 years to call each household just once.

Of course there are many polling companies, but on the other hand they don't call every day either. Just to show that the odds of being called are slim.

There can be other reasons for a slanted poll, but not being called doesn't seem to be one of them.

[alarcojon]

11. I am a mathematician

and I like your argument.

By the way, I have been polled several times.

[delete_bush]

14. Thanks for your verification....

I have never been polled nor won the lottery.

On the positive side, I've never been struck by lightning either. Sometimes odds work in our favor.

[Vincardog]

12. Polled today

I was called by a pollster today. It was the PEW poll.

[DieboldMustDie]

13. Once in '92

[TruthIsAll]

15. Why would you expect to be called? There are 200 million registered voters

Do you expect to win the lottery?

[liberal N proud]

17. I got called by the LA Times earlier this year!

Before I would answer any questions, I had a few for him first.
Like how they got my number.
Who they were conducting the poll for
Eventually I answered his questions talking over an hour to him. Some of what I said ended up in an article in a couple of days.
My only regret, telling him that I did not wish to be contacted again.
Damn!

[MissB]

18. Never and I have a landline (nt)

[A Brand New World]

19. Yes in Ohio

I was called a week ago Wednesday evening by the American Research Group. Of course, I gave Kerry a big thumb's up and NO to Bush. They were very interested in union input/influence once I told them my husband belongs to a union. This was the first time I've been called and I've been a registered voter for 30 years.

[Clinton Crusader]

20. nope

never.
:kick:

[goclark]

21. The question should be did you get a paper trail?

I was called last Spring. At the time I believed that the person was truly writing down my responses.

Later it hit me! How in the hell do I know that he checked KERRY!
I was not sitting beside him for those 10 minutes on the phone.
He could have been Rove's cousin!!!

Just think Uncle Karl gets him the Poll Calling job and then gives him $7000 $$'s worth of Savings Bonds for his next birthday.

I think, now more than ever before, Rove has positioned his little twits to apply for jobs at the polling companies. What they write down is not seen or approved by the person polled.

Wake Up America!

[Texas_Dem]

22. No.. but I have called a pollster a few choice names before

[cmf]

23. Not me, but my husband has been polled twice within the last couple months

One was definitely a right-wing poll. He said the questions were really slanted in such a way that they would get the answers they wanted. Like "Do you oppose laws that would take away your right to bear arms?". That type of stuff.