Telephone Polls
I got a call yesterday from a polling company. They asked me if I would be interested in going through some questions with them pertaining to the upcoming election. I had a few minutes available, so I agreed to answer the questions. At first the questions were straightforward. Had I heard of Person A? Had I heard of Person B? Would I vote for Person A in November? Would I vote for Person B in November? Then the true nature of the poll was revealed when they started to ask some ridiculously biased questions. I forget the exact wording of these questions, but they asked something along the lines of whether or not I knew that Person A voted for a bill that would hurt Georgians and line the pockets of some group? And did I know that Person A took X dollars from that group? How did that make me feel about Person A? Would I still vote for Person A?
I immediately asked who was doing this polling. The questions were ridiculously one-sided and almost certainly dishonestly framed. The pollster said that they didn't know who funded the poll. Yeah, right. Pull this leg and it plays jingle bells. I asked if they were going to ask equally biased questions about the other candidate. The pollstar didn't respond affirmatively.
It was such a ridiculous survey. I haven't been involved in any polling this close to an election. If this is the way that telephone surveys are conducted, I wouldn't trust any of the results that come from them.
Not that it matters that much since both sides probably do this, but the target of this poll's negativity appeared to be Casey Cagle, candidate for Lieutenant Governor. He was the one that this "neutral" poll tried to portray as a step or two short of being Pol Pot. I'm guessing that it was commissioned by the Georgia Democratic Party or Jim Martin's (his opponent's) camp. Either way, I imagine that they didn't like my answers or my editorializing about the nature of the questions.
Don't you just love election season?
4 comments:
Polls are usually contracted out by special interest groups, and they can be spun in such ways that help the cause that they are preaching in particular.
That's why I hate polls, and I hate quoting polls. I can't stand people who quote polls either. Matter of fact, as someone who engages in persuasive arguement from time to time (imagine that!), I find that the person who quotes polls the earliest or the most is usually representing the weakest argument, substance wise.
I'm not the kind of guy who cares a whit what "only 48% of a certain population agrees/disagrees with," I care about why the thing is good or bad. Polls tend to reinforce already held beliefs of an organization, and give marketing folks something to sell other folks who don't really need what it is people are selling.
If it was a Democratic Organization that was calling (it was, in all honesty, probably some Democratically leaning PAC or other group), it would serve as one major example of what I call "why Democrats lose elections they don't need to." The answer to the thesis is "bad marketing."
You are angrier after the poll than you were before the poll, I'd wager, and more likely to vote the other way. Why? Because the thing was one sided and biased.
On the other hand, if I was a Republican leaning organization, knowing that voters are turned off by such tactics, I might just create a left leaning & biased poll and work on getting conservatives angry so they'll be sure to vote against the obnoxious pollsters.
They must think that they can "educate" the public through polls like this. I don't know if anybody is fooled by it. I suppose some are. I'm just too naturally cynical to trust people's motives, though. Still, it may sway some folks who only halfway pay attention.
You're right, though. It did just aggravate me. Even though everyone does it, I'm fed up with the brazen political games these people play.
Interesting blog. Keep up the good work.
Regards,
Johnny Reb
Bartow County Genealogy
http://www.scv670.com
A push poll! The other day I found myself answering questions on radio stations (this could be a neat poll, I thought) and it turned out to be a push poll trying to sway me to listen to 97.1 The River. Bleah.
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