Least is completely right. (Except about asking to get off the list – the list is that of voters, so you are already on it to stay.)
After all, it takes less time to just answer their questions, and then they will stop calling (until the night before the election, when they will remind you of that). Frankly, it’s a little flattering that they included you in the small group to be pursued so ardently.
And my response will ALWAYS be that I have a right to vote in private, and my decision on who/what to vote for in the upcoming election is private and will stay private and I will not tell anybody including my husband what my voting history is or will be, and that they can make a notation not to come around again asking as I will not answer and it is a waste of their time. I have all the political people in my town conditioned not to bother knocking on my door.
But don’t waste five or ten minutes of some poor pollster’s time lecturing them about your right to vote privately. Just say, “I’m not interested; please don’t contact me again.”
The political sign that I put in my yard at voting time has a picture of Chief Tammany, and words stating Tammany: Vote Early, Vote Often!
I don’t care how popular or unpopular the candidates I plan on voting for are, I have absolutely no interest in informing people of my choices. I have seen more arguments over religion and politics. I am not playing that game.
Why not? They felt free to waste aruvqan’s time by calling in the first place.
Personally, I prefer to get myself put in the “insane” file: “I’ll be voting Obama because I am a pro-life, opposed to Affirmative Action and want to start WWIII, just like him. Also, the gremlins told me to.”
I love Caller ID - if I don’t recognize the number, it goes to the machine. Even more so during an election season. If they come to my door, they get a very curt “I’m not interested” and a door shut in their face. Pollsters, religious folks, sales, I couldn’t even tell you what they were there for. The conversation doesn’t last long enough.
Yep, that’s exactly what I do on all accounts and I don’t feel bad about doing it.
Although, when Arnold was doing robo-calling, I would always listen instead of insta-deleting the message. It was just so cool to hear his voice on my answering machine.
Fuck that. DON’T ANSWER THE QUESTION. The ubiqitous use of polling (and push polls in particular) is a large part of the downward spiral of politics in this country. Maybe if we all band together and deny them their poll data, politicians and parties will have to go back to, you know, telling us what THEY believe, instead of what their polls tell them we want to hear.
You’ve got it all wrong. You get asked these questions so time doesn’t get wasted. In a campaign, there’s only so much time and only so much money to go around. If you get a call, it’s because there’s a reason. You might have donated money, you might have some kind of demographic that some candidate thinks that you’re supportive of them or their issue or so forth. You’re talking about polling. I’m talking about people volunteering/working for a campaign, making calls or knocking on your door because you’re a targeted individual and because they want to get your feelings on the candidate/issue.