First of all: yes I still have a landline, and yes I at least sometimes answer the phone – a call from an unfamiliar number may be a potential customer calling the farm.
Lately sometimes the calls have been political polls. I have pretty much been hanging back up on these without answering them, partly on the general principle that I don’t respond to robocalls, and partly because even if they’re not robocalls I suspect them of being either pushpolls or just generally so badly worded that I can’t fit my actual answers into the poll.
Is there any advantage, even though undoubtedly small, to my answering such polls? does it give a boost to candidates/political parties if the polls show them doing well? does it risk voters not showing up out of complacency if the polls show their candidate/party doing well?
FWIW, I’m in a very red area of a very blue state, and vote on the left unless that candidate’s entirely off the wall (and, these days, sometimes even if they are, as their opponent/party is likely to be so also.)
I usually ignore calls from unknown numbers, especially during an election year, and especially especially if it is a 202 area code or shows as “RNC” . But I have wondered sometimes if I ought to go ahead and answer. Do you speak with a live person or is just recorded questions that you press a number to answer? If it was a live person asking questions, I would answer the same way debate participants answer – don’t answer the question they ask, just take it as an opportunity to spout off. If it’s a robo-survey with obviously skewed questions, I’d probably just hang up.
This is a great set of questions and when I had a landline I often wondered what the best thing to do would be from game theory perspective. I wish that I had a good answer for you. I hope that the thread sticks to this instead of becoming one of the innumerable discussions on how to have “fun” with telemarketers.
Oh, if I ever get a poll from a real live Republican, I most assuredly will have fun with them, but not in the standard, twice-rehashed way that has been discussed before.
Several years ago, I worked for a phone survey company. Certainly, push polls exist–but most of the big-name firms stake their reputation on being as accurate as possible.
A lot of what we did was comparison polling–ask how you’re voting, and then read a series of statements about the person or ballot question, and then ask again how you’re voting. A lot of those statements seem designed to push respondents a particular way–but guess what? It’s up to you to decide what influences your decision. If you know your own mind, and are not easily swayed, I would argue that it’s more important to participate in push polls than in ones that are scrupulously designed to be neutral.
Most of the polls that are conducted by an actual person over the phone are sufficiently well-designed that you can probably find a good answer. For example, a lot of the ones that I did that had statements about a person or a ballot measure would ask, “Do you find that very convincing, somewhat convincing, a little convincing, or not at all convincing?” And if none of the options fit you, nearly all good verbal polls will accept “I don’t know” as an answer, even if that’s not explicitly listed as a possible answer.
To answer your question, don’t worry; your answering a pollster’s question isn’t going to tip the election one way or the other. They call thousands of people, hoping to get through to a few.
Some people look forward to those calls since it’s a chance to chat with a stranger; some dread them for the very same reason. The majority of the time, it will be a computer prompting you with questions you can answer or not.
If you don’t mind the interruption and want your voice heard, feel free to answer the phone and their questions. If you don’t want to be bothered, answer the phone, and if it turns out to be a pollster, just hang up and enjoy the extra time in your day.
I tend to answer poll questions if there’s a human being asking them, but a key factor is that my land-line has a hands-free headset. I can continue various chores while I talk.
I do ask them two questions first. “What agency is conducting this poll?” If they won’t answer, neither will I. “About how long will this take?” If it’s lengthy, and I’m pressed for time I politely tell them I can’t.
I tend to answer a) because I like having data, and polls are one way we get data, and b) it gives me a chance to waste the time of push pollsters.
Sometimes 5 or 10 minutes go by with genuine seeming questions about candidates and issues before we get to, “If Joe Schmoe plans to ruin our state’s economy and make children go hungry through restrictive environmental policies, would you be more or less likely to vote for him.”
That’s when I say, “oh this is a push poll ! You’re not really interested in the answers as much as in spreading one party’s nonsense. OK, bye.”
I hope the ten minutes they’ve lost hurts them a bit, and I’ve been stacking firewood as we talked, so I’ve lost nothing.
To answer this, yes, it can help the candidates you support, and hurt candidates you don’t support. If a candidate is in a race they can win, they’ll be able to raise more money. If a candidate is polling poorly, they are less likely to be able to raise money.
In presidential elections, it probably has the most effect in the primaries, where polling numbers and fundraising are make-or-break for staying in the race.
I answer them, because 1) I think information is good, and it benefits both campaigns and the general public if they can get accurate information about how the election stands; and 2) it benefits me to get my voice heard, as it is more likely that parties and politicians will choose messaging and priorities that reflect my preferences if they know what those preferences are.
Lately, though, I’ve been wondering if I’m enough of a political outlier that #2 conflicts with #1; e.g. you will get the impression that there are more white Democrats in Mississippi than there actually are if I’m the one you can get on the phone. Oh well. I like answering surveys, regardless.
I haven’t talked to any Republicans because of the ‘don’t answer unknown numbers’ thing, but I’ve been getting a lot of text messages allegedly from individuals and I answer them back with something on the lines of, Because of the Big Lie, voter suppression, and reproductive rights issues, I cannot see myself voting for a Republican candidate ever again.
I think I’m somewhat more inclined to answer the next one; especially considering @eschrodinger’s reply . – of course, now that I’ve decided to answer, they may stop calling!
You may like to read this gifted article from the New York Times NYT Frustrated With Polling?. It sounds like it’s a really frustrating time to be a pollster; it’s got to be a terrible job, and getting a helpful live person might make someone’s day!
Apparently if I refuse to respond they might think I’m a Republican! (some exaggeration there, but at least one pollster was talking about refusing to answer polls being more common among Republicans.)
– and no, I haven’t had a pollster call since I started this thread.