Just fielded the third call of the day from “Promark Research,” whoever that is. They’re clearly on a mission. Just a series of general opinion surveys, so they say. Are you registered to vote? In the Governor’s race, do you lean Democratic or Republican? What are the main tasks before the governor as you see it…" etc. But in that question, I sense a bias. Options include “keeping the budget in line by cutting expenses,” but nothing about “keeping the budget in line by raising taxes,” for instance. And then, a question about my support of a state initiative that provides health care to the children of illegal immigrants, “costing the state x millions of dollars.” Now that type of question is hardly an impartial question. It’s loaded. And at that point, after I said I was “strongly in favor,” I pulled the plug and stopped the survey. But it’s clear that the questions are artfully framed in a politically slanted way. It’s obvious that they’ll get the kinds of responses that they’re looking for - which is not the paradigm that good research employs. So - who’s behind these kinds of “scientific surveys”? Where might we see the results of this “research”? What the hell is this?
Sounds like it could be a “push poll” which is another form of ad for a candidate.
We had something like that here recently. We had a Special Town Election on a budget over-ride.
Two things happened. One was as you describe; callers presenting themselves as an “opinion poll” that rapidly turned into a biased pitch towards the “no” vote.
The other was a heavy series of “Robo Calls.”
The State Attorney General’s Office got involved on the RoboCalls because the calling organization failed to identify itself or register with the Town Clerk’s office; a clear violation of the state election laws. Unfortunately they were unable to determine the source of the calls.
The combination of the two calls and one other (legitimate and legal) issue were credited with driving a narrow rejection of the over-ride. Many people of the “let’s play fair” persuasion are still ticked about this.
Seriously? :dubious:
Politicians. Who did you think?
Sometimes they are doing legitimate polling, in the sense that they are measuring peoples reactions to issues. Other times its the push poll concept where they are publicizing a ‘new’ issue or disseminating misinformation. Some of them even end in a blatant request for money. There have been reported sabotage cases where slimy calls were made to sound like they came from a candidate in order turn off his/her supporters.
The politicians have taken special care to insure their right to make unsolicited and anonymous phone calls have not been abridged.
Being paranoid, I never believe those people when they say it’s a survey. But I consistently told callers that I don’t participate in surveys and over the years they’ve gradually gone away. I can’t remember the last one I got.
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I usually answer surveys when they seem legit, because I want my voice (usually a bit unconventional) heard and my point of view considered, even though I know it’s going to be in the minority.
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These types of polls backfiring when it’s determined that it’s really an underhanded approach by a candidate makes me want to dig into this one and determine who sponsored it. Any ideas on how to do this?
That’s what the investigating office said. I admit you’ve got to wonder how much effort they put into it (single-issue Town vote, not State or Federal.)
I got a robo-survey today that asked if I owned a little dog. What the hell is up with that?
Hey, I got that same call yesterday! Since I don’t own a little dog (I own a large dog), I said “no” and that was the end of it. I wonder what would’ve happened if I answered affirmatively?
Most political polls, especially the ones you think have leading questions, are done by politicans/parties/consultants/etc. A lot of times they’ll rotate questions among callers, asking one group if they favor “cutting spending to balance the budget,” another group about “cutting social programs,” a third about “streamlining the budget,” and so on to get the exact wording that seems to resonate the best. In that respect, the polls are basicly market research.
Some legitimate market research firms (Gallup is notable for this) ask political questions as a sort of loss-leader to build their recognition; they actually get most of their money from asking consumers about what they think about Pepsi Max and stiff like that. Asking a political question or two tends to keep the caller on the line longer and they can then slip in questions about your income, what credit cards you use and what car you drive.
A list of people who own small dogs would sell quite readily to veterinarians, dog food companies, Petsmart, etc., local humane society fundraisers, politicians who supported dog runs in local parks, etc. There could be lots of potential buyers for such a list. Especially if it’s current, accurate, and known that they are willing to talk on the phone about their dogs.
And if you own a robo-calling setup, and it’s sitting unused because you don’t have a current customer, it’s good business to use it to generate a small-dog-owners list that you can sell.
I worked for Promark Research, for a total of three days, last month. Here’s the deal…
Promark is based in Texas, but also has a location in Albuquerque, NM. They’re an outbound call center, performing “general opinion surveys about issues facing us all.” But you already know that much. As best i can tell, they are nothing more than a morally bankrupt propaganda machine. During my brief employment i was told, point blank, to lie to survey respondents about questions regarding how we got the call lists, what the surveys are about, the expected duration of the survey, etc. Additionally, the surveys are very heavily scripted and must be followed to a T. Often the survey wording is clearly (to myself, and the topic creator, anyway) biased. Almost as often, it blatantly lies. While working there, I worked in constant fear that a respondent would notice the false arguments framed by the survey writers, or the use of logical fallacies and misleading language. Surprisingly, in three days, no one ever did. And I’m ashamed to say, two people’s opinions on the up-coming gubernatorial election in Oklahoma were changed by these surveys, to support the GOP candidate.
Essentially any survey I’m aware of, conducted by Promark Research, is nothing more than a right-wing attack ad cloaked as an ‘impartial’ survey. For anyone reading this, should you get a call from this company, request removal from their list. If that doesn’t work, tell them there is NEVER a registered voter at the residence. Both answers will work to remove you from the call list, which they purchase from a third-party at no small expense.
Also, I guess this is my de-lurk. Hello SDMB.
Boy, would I love to know who commissioned this company to make these calls about the gubernatorial race in Illinois. The obvious suspect is the Republican nominee, of course. This is juicy stuff. Almost makes me want to get interested in politics again. I wish I knew how to probe this deeper.
Here in Minnesota, we would research this by looking at the Campaign Finance Board website, which posts the reports of all candidates, parties, and PAC groups online. All expenditures over $100 have to be listed, along with the person/company paid, their address, date & amount paid, and the service paid for. (And I’m sure such a phone ‘survey’ would be over $100.)
Then you could look up the ‘likely suspects’ – the republican candidate, the state republican party, etc. and see which one hired this company to do the survey. The trick might be to find which one did it. Besides the state party, there are many local or district party units that this could be funneled through, or they could run this through a PAC under some obscure name. Also, they might delay payment on this until late in the reporting period, even holding it until after the election. But it should appear eventually, on somebody’s Campaign Finance Report.
I don’t know if Illinois Campaign Financing Reports are online. (Illinois is generally regarded as having the worst, most-ineffective campaign finance system in the midwest.)
This is (informed) guesswork, but…
I know that a single entity paid Promark for survey’s being run in multiple states, all supporting the GOP candidate against a Democratic incumbent. At least in my (limited) experience. The survey I conducted for three hours in Oklahoma was identical to the survey in Colorado I did for two hours, minus the names. The questions about the individual candidates positions were generally just expressing the support of the democratic candidate for Obama’s positions and support for things like the Wall Street bailout and the federal stimulus. Of course, nebulous statements about the candidates abortion policies and position on the second amendment were also included. If the surveyor told you the “computer [was] selecting a random candidate to inform you about further,” that’s probably where the character assassination started. And there was no random selection, it was the same. Every time.
I’m not trying to say all of their surveys are identical in this respect, but all the survey’s commissioned by this particular client were. They were also organized in the computer with the same survey ‘code’. 2800xx (iirc) where the 2800 represents the client and xx represents ordered pairs designating states. They required the attention of the entire call center for two days, so I’ve been inclined to believe this may have been organized by the RNC. Those ‘surveys’ DID NOT come cheap.
Also, to be fair, my first day with Promark was training. My second day, I did a completely unbiased survey in NYC asking people about Cuomo and Lazio. My third day I did the survey series we are currently discussing. My fourth day, I quit before i finished logging into the computer system. Such was my disgust with the previous day.
Great idea. As it turns out, a quick look at the Illinois Bd. of Elections site shows that it’s quite good and thorough - with a few exceptions. But it also shows that a good investigative reporter, being paid for time spent, could probably uncover this information - separate from the evasions mentioned. I don’t have the time or talent. But someone does.
Modern telecom tech has made tracing such calls virtually impossible. They can be routed via foreign countries, thru Internet connections and so on. Caller id is meaningless.
It takes a huge effort just to track down the people who are doing a million calls an hour. Local election crap just isn’t worth it.
They would’ve told you to Get A Long Little Doggie.
D&R
The “phony” calls you are receiving are actually legit. When you see campaign commercials with statistics on voting turn outs, these numbers have actually come from completed surveys by companies such as Promark. I worked for this company late summer last year, and also have close relations to one of the two owners. The people calling you work hard to fill quotas, and if you finish the survey with them, your number will be burned and you’ll never be contacted again.
Did you even read this three year old thread?