Landline-only polls produce Republican bias, study confirms

[RamboLiberal]

A new study by the Pew Research Center has found that 2010 midterm election polls that excluded cellphones were biased towards Republicans.

The new data shows that landline-only interviews favored Republicans by more than 5 points.

In the polls that excluded cellphone users, Republicans were ahead by over 12 points while polls that included cellphone users had Republicans ahead by less than 8 points.

In Pew Research's final pre-election poll in 2010, the landline sample of likely voters found Republican candidates ahead 51%-39%, a 12-point lead. In the sample that combined landline and cell phone interviews, the Republican lead was 48%-42%, a six-point advantage. The national vote for House candidates is not yet final; currently, Republicans lead by approximately a seven-point margin.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/republican-bias-landlineonly-polls-study-confirms/

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. And in other breaking news, the sun rises in the east.

But it's nice to see some official recognition of something we knew all along: Republicans tend to be older people who use land lines; Democrats include more younger people who have gone wireless.

[Radical Activist]

2. How would one determine the impact polls have on election results?

They dominate the national debate and news coverage. Does two years of being told Democrats will lose help make that prediction a reality?

[madmax]

4. I have no scientific proof but

yes, my gut tells me they do. If keeps hearing something over and over, subconsciously perhaps their minds absorb that meme and they go with the pack. :shrug: Just my feeling about it.

[Lisa D]

3. That bias gap is going to widen

We're getting rid of our landline next month and have friends doing the same.

[Tesha]

5. If you "port" your landline number to your cell phone, ...

...you'll keep getting polled.

My mobile has our old house phone number and I got
polled lots of times coming into the 2010 election. Mr.
Tesha's mobile has a number that's always been "mobile"
and he was never polled, not even once.

Tesha

[n2doc]

6. And yet, didn't they predict the last election pretty well?

We talk about bias, but when the numbers come in, I don't see any magical Democratic block showing up to vote.