Phone survey manipulation

[azbob]

Following occurred last night right after dinner:

Ring, Ring, Ring

Wife answers, listens for a minute or two and says “Well I don’t know.  I’ll have to see if my husband will talk to you”

Covering up the pone, my wife says “honey, it’s a survey, but they only want to talk to a man and not a woman”.

This peaks my interest and I say “sure baby I’ll see what’s up”

“Hello, who am I speaking to?”

“I’m Glenda and my company has been hire to do a short phone survey.  Do you have a minute?”

“Well Glenda, who hired your company?”

“We can’t tell you because it might compromise the answers.  Will you answer a few questions?”

“Interesting.  Let’s see.  What is your first question?”

“Sir are you a Democrat, a Republican, or Other?”

“Are those my only choices?”

“Yes”

“You know there are a lot of “other” out there?  With those being the only choices, I am an “other”

“Sir, thank you for your time and have a good evening” and she hung up!



So ended the shortest phone survey in history.
Obviously they were only interested in:
1)   Male opinions
2)   Republicans, or maybe just Democrats (never found out since I’m an “Other”!)

I wonder if they were counting just “Other’s”?  Doubt it!

One way to control the results is to limit the input to that group that is most likely to agree with your opinion.

A real example why I’ve always distrusted “polls”.

Signed,

Otherbob

[Otteralum]

love it! if you've never noticed before, take the time to look at a lot of the polling from some of the major survey sources.  Many times the survey is specifically targeted to determine how Ds are different from Rs.

[2Aggies]

I am a firm believer that nearly 100% of polls are conducted in a manner to produce the results desired. I have addressed this same issue before when a poster picks and chooses the polls to support the cause.


Edited: Because I was embarrassed by the typo's. Give me books, send me to school...

[clover]

It looks like you're right 2ag

Gallup poll question:

Do you approve or disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing as President?

Approve               (PSSSST  Democrats choose this one!)

Disagree               (PSSST  Republicans choose this one!)
 

[azbob]

and clover how do the "others" vote?

[clover]

I don't know......they've never asked me to take a poll! 

[ragman]

Maybe the Gallup poll was wrong in Feb 2009 when Obama had a 66% approval rating and an 18% disapproval or is it only wrong when on certain dates?     Just wondering.  I think Gallup and Ramussen are reasonably accurate.  Some of the others I don't pay any attention to on the left or right.   

[2Aggies]

It looks like you're right 2ag

Gallup poll question:

Do you approve or disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing as President?

Approve               (PSSSST  Democrats choose this one!)

Disagree               (PSSST  Republicans choose this one!)
 

It's not only the question, but also where you conduct the poll: only numbers in Oak Cliff for a Dem favored poll and South Lake for a Rep favored poll.