How safe an assumption is that, given an anonymous poll?
I can think of a lot of reasons why someone might lie to a pollster. Matbe you really love a TV show that you don’t actually get to watch as often as you would like. Or you watch one of those trainwreck shows but don’t want to admit it, or you’ve done something you’re ashamed of, etc. MAYBE you just want to sow chaos or fuck with your countrymens’ heads.
What about you? Having absolute confidence that any given response could not be traced back to you as in individual, are there circumstances where you would lie?
All of the polling that I’ve done has been political polling, where we have a damn good bit of information on who we’re talking to. We know their names, where they live, marital status, age, and likelyhood of being Democrat or Republican (this is based off of what magazines they order and what organizations they belong to, among other things.) In short: We know who you are.
I understand that many other polling organizations don’t have this kind of information on me. They may not know who I am. However, unless the surveyor was really obnoxious, out of respect for the polling that I do, I generally won’t lie.
Real polls, I answer truthfully unless there’s something too personal being asked. Then it’s a “no thanks”.
Phony polls I don’t do at all. To cut some of them short I’ll say “I don’t ever use long distance.” Or “my religion forbids the use of cell phones.”
The “pointy haired boss” polls getting access to news sites I mess up completely. My zip code is 12345, etc. Jeez, years ago there was the infamous remark someone made that “half of all visitors to our web site are CEOs of their own corporation making at least a million dollars a year.” You’re getting data but you’re not getting info. The two are not the same.
I am “enrolled” with an online polling company which occassionally pays for the info. Always honest. I’ve made several hundred dollars. Not exactly a great ratio of benefit vs. time, but interesting. It’s weird to see a commercial I completely trashed in a poll later turning up on TV. You mean there were others in the poll who liked that?
Problem is, the funny stuff usually occurs to me later.
I said “no thanks” to a marketing pollster who called wanting to know about “snack and soft drink shopping habits.”
After I cut him off and hung up, it occurred to me that I could have had a blast offering opinions like: “My favorite beverage is Dr. Skipper. Mountain Dew is devil cum. I wouldn’t wash my dog’s asshole with it.”
Someone called to ask my views on the upcoming election. I hung up before admitting that I didn’t know what election she was talking about. So clearly I wouldn’t be able to bluff my way through something like that.
I’m honest with REAL polls, when I bother to answer them at all.
I’m regularly asked questions by the Harris Poll. I never lie to them, but about 5% of the time, I just won’t answer.
My main problem is that a lot of my opinions are too nuanced! My exact thoughts and feelings on any given issue aren’t likely to fit neatly in one of the handful of responses I have to choose from.