A phone poll these days is sort of like polling people on AOL.

[Bonobo]

1,000 "random" phone calls?

Come on now.

That's like 1,000 random "Jitterbug" users or 1,000 random AOL users.

If this election is a close as they say, I'll eat a rotten vole.

[treestar]

1. Exactly! These polls are useless

They are only polling the braindead who would answer a landline and start answering questions put by a stranger. Who would do that? Only extremely old people, used to authoritarianism and likely to do as they are told, or people who are too dummb to realize they don't have to talk to someone just because they called.

[Bonobo]

2. Excellent point. I hadn't even thought of that.

When I get a call to offer my opinion for "market reasearch", I tell them they have to pay me or I won't give them shit. Why should I?

Still, I know there are idiots who feel "honored" that their opinion is being asked. Good point.

[redstate_democrat]

14. LOL!

My sides hurt.

[cosmik debris]

3. So which demographic sector still has land lines? Hmmm? n/t

[MercutioATC]

5. Oh, christ....they're all polling McCain!

...but I have to wonder how he "presses one" on a rotary phone...

[treestar]

18. And when they call each house, they may have no way of knowing

they are asking the same person the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth times.

:rofl:

[ContinentalOp]

11. :( Me?

31 year old male, work on a computer all day. I don't really use my cell since I'm home all of the time. We have Skype for long distance. I hang up when a pollster or solicitor calls though.

[BlooInBloo]

4. I wish DU had multivariate poll making capability.

[valerief]

6. Yeah, how many people actually answer their phones when they don't

recognize the incoming caller? Probably 95% of the populace.

[Bobbie Jo]

15. Caller ID is your friend. Count me in that 95% nt

[NanceGreggs]

7. Truly ...

... these "polls" are a joke.

Just heard Bill Schneider (CNN buffoon) answering a question about how the shrinking use of landlines is posing a problem for pollsters.

As Bill explained it, pollsters know absolutely nothing about cell-phone users, because they can't reach them to ask them any survey questions.

But that's not a problem, sez Bill, because the polling companies have learned to "weight" for those people. That means making "assumptions" about how those people would respond, if they did respond to a phone survey.

Question for Bill: How can you make accurate "assumptions" about people who you admittedly "know nothing about"?

Total BS.

[Bill McBlueState]

8. if CNN were a real news outlet...

They'd do a story on polling techniques, featuring interviews with both pollsters and independent statisticians. But instead, you got to hear Bill Schnieder guess about what happens.

[treestar]

19. Absolutely! Like did they even go into how the "weighting" is

conducted? Of course not! And how could it possibly be accurate? :rofl:

[Bonobo]

9. Weighted. Yeah, right.

Excellent point.

[valerief]

10. Yesterday I was watching Debbie Wasserman Schultz being

interviewed by KO? Tweety? and they showed her the poll that said 27% or something of Hillary supporters were undecided about who they'd vote for. She responded with how she didn't really trust those polls and then--whoops!--the screen went to color bars. They, ahem, lost her transmission. No snow, no sizzle, just color bars.

Mustn't question the almighty poll on the M$M, even when KO is on the show.

[FrenchieCat]

12. I saw that.....

[valerief]

16. A friend of mine saw it, too, and didn't question it until I spoke with her about it.

The polls are all part of the propaganda.

[JaneQPublic]

21. Is Schneider still a member of the American Enterprise Institute?

If so, I'd say CNN's journalistic neutrality is a bit "weighted," as well.

[barack the house]

13. If it isn't at least we can thank them for making us work harder.

[Freddie Stubbs]

17. Most of the polls during the primary were faily accurate

Were they just lucky?

[Bonobo]

20. Here. You should read this.

http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/are_polls_skewed_because_many_people_only.html