Almost Got Polled!

Well, I got a phone call last night -- my first poll ever! The person told me they were a member of National something-or-other, and asked if I had about 15 minutes to take a poll. Dunno if you noticed, but I like to share my opinion I said of course, went out to my hammock, and got ready to answer a bunch of questions. First question:

Interviewer: Would you consider yourself a Democrat or a Republican?

The Jake: A Republican

Interviewer: Ok, thanks for taking this poll on behalf of National somerhing-or-other >click<

The Jake: Er...I may be a dummy, but that did not seem like 15 minutes!

Has that happened to anyone else? Someone calls them to take an impartial poll of the local population, finds out you're a Republican, and hangs up? I've heard of gearing the questions to cause a certain response, but ommitting people completely because they don't answer the way you want...What is the point of political polls, then, and why do our politicians live by this?

I told my dad about the call, and he said he'd gotten quite a few of those during the election. They'd find out he is a Republican, and the poll is over. And what's worse, people get mad at politicians for not following poll numbers! Why would they bother, the group polling just going to omit results they don't want!

nope I just the phone calls from the army/navy wanting me to join.


lollerskates.

Nothing like that has ever happened to me, I've been polled before but on consumer products not politics.

Unfortunately junglejake this post is not allowed on the Political Conspiracies forum since it implies a conspiracy perpetrated by liberals/Democrats. Only slanderous lies and deceptive posts about Republicans and especially George Bush are allowed here. Expect someone to move this to PTS real soon.

[edit on 6/8/2005 by djohnsto77]

You gave the wrong answer.

I get called for polls all the time, but I never particpate.

That's typical Jake.

Poller: Are you a repub or demo?
You: repub
Poller: Ok, thanks for your time

Poller: Are you a repub or demo?
You: demo
Poller: What do you think of Bush?
You: he sucks
Poller: Ok, thanks for your time

Poller: Are you a repub or demo?
You: demo
Poller: What do you think of Bush?
You: he sucks
Poller: Ok, thanks for your time


Poll results released next day:
Majority of Americans think Bush sucks

Maybe it was a poll that was being run FOR the democratic party wondering how party alignment and issues are affecting members of THEIR party.

Just like if McDonald's was conducting a poll about its new Big Mac, a good qualifying question for pollsters should be "Do you eat at McDonald's?" If the answer is no, then the person has no business stating their opinion about the new Big Mac.

Originally posted by CaptainJailew
Maybe it was a poll that was being run FOR the democratic party wondering how party alignment and issues are affecting members of THEIR party.

I would have accepted that but for a couple of reasons. First, the pollster was for National something-or-other, I don't remember the name, but it was familiar when I heard it. Nothing was mentioned about it being for the DNC or anything along those lines. That, however, doesn't discount it as being for the DNC alone.

The other clincher in my mind that it didn't matter was my dad saying he'd gotten many of those phone calls, to the same phone number, and they all do the same thing. According to him, he's not gotten 2 minutes through a 15 minute poll.

As for this not being a political conspiracy, this is the information that drives politicians to action. If someone elects to subvert the information collection process for political means without full exposure of doing so, and it's an effort not just by one individual but entire companies, I think we have a conspiracy on our hands.

junglejake I never said this wasn't a conspiracy, it probably is. The problem is that Democrats are the conpirators, therefore it is not allowed in this forum.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
junglejake I never said this wasn't a conspiracy, it probably is. The problem is that Democrats are the conpirators, therefore it is not allowed in this forum.

Well, here's to hoping for integrety!

Originally posted by junglejake
The other clincher in my mind that it didn't matter was my dad saying he'd gotten many of those phone calls, to the same phone number, and they all do the same thing. According to him, he's not gotten 2 minutes through a 15 minute poll.

It is possible for an independent polling agency to be contracted by a private organization on multiple occasions, for multiple polls. If you live in an area that is predominantly democratic then that would also explain the saturation of democrat-inspired polls.

I don't think this is really a "conspiracy" per se, all polling agencies are required by law to provide their qualifying questions and the number of people who qualified to answer the poll. Which means that anyone looking up the information for that poll would also have access to see the demographics of the people polled.

I really don't think any major government decisions are based on a conspiratorial polling method, especially given that we have a Republican majority, there is no way they would simply accept a democrat poll at face value.

Originally posted by junglejake

Originally posted by djohnsto77
junglejake I never said this wasn't a conspiracy, it probably is. The problem is that Democrats are the conpirators, therefore it is not allowed in this forum.

Well, here's to hoping for integrety!

I really don't care what forum ya'll make fools of yourself in. Have at it.

But if you like to learn why this most likely isn't a conspiracy (at least not the kind you're thinking of), I'd be happy to tell you.

I would be interested in hearing your viewpoint RANT, as it is most probably something I would agree with but not considered yet.

Originally posted by RANT
But if you like to learn why this most likely isn't a conspiracy (at least not the kind you're thinking of), I'd be happy to tell you.

Yes RANT, I for one would like to know the secrets behind the motives of this forum! It's CERTAINLY NOT what's advertised on the forums page:

Discuss political conspiracies, cover-ups, and deceptions of political figures and parties.

At the risk of repeating myself, these words have NOTHING to do with the way this forum is administered.

Originally posted by CaptainJailew
If you live in an area that is predominantly democratic then that would also explain the saturation of democrat-inspired polls.

You make a good point, I live in the Chicago area, which is hugely democratic. It is possible that they were democrat focused polls and we just get a lot of them. My dad's retired and a member of AARP, too, which could help contribute. Maybe next time I'll lie and see where the poll goes.

Interviewer: "Are you a friend of Hillary?"

Lil' ol' me: "Well, I'd like to see her or Ted Kennedy run for office in 2008, so yeah."

Cut to November, 2008: "And in a landslide victory, Condi Rice has become our first black female president in the history of the country with 77% of the vote. Next was a small frog, who ran in with the irrelevant party, and got 18% of the vote. Finishing in third was the Clinton/Kennedy ticket with a whopping 8% of the vote"

Muh-wha-ha-ha-ha

I do polls and surveys and also home testing products, I get points and also money for them.

I enjoy doing them because is fun, I have two e-mail accounts just for them.

If you are interested in joining start with my survey.com, Isops, or harris polls.

Many of them pay money for the testing at home of products.

Discuss political conspiracies, cover-ups, and deceptions of political figures and parties.

Hmmm, none of the above.
Polling could is more a part of US Politics.

Originally posted by junglejake

Originally posted by CaptainJailew
If you live in an area that is predominantly democratic then that would also explain the saturation of democrat-inspired polls.

You make a good point, I live in the Chicago area, which is hugely democratic. It is possible that they were democrat focused polls and we just get a lot of them. My dad's retired and a member of AARP, too, which could help contribute. Maybe next time I'll lie and see where the poll goes.

I seriously think you guys are on the right track here (and ThatsJustWeird is dead, dead wrong). I could talk about polling all day, but will try to just offer realistic possibilites behind this.

My first thought is this was not a poll. At least by my definition and knowledge of what reputable MRA/CASRO companies do (the kind published in newspapers) there are numerous red flags just from what you described JJake.

The person said they were a member of National So and So. Certainly sounds more like a political or fundraising call than the usual Acme Marketing Research, an independent data collection firm... (blah, blah, blah...) that one would expect from a reputable pollster.

Then they said it would take 15 minutes! No, no, no. That's just wrong on so many levels. It could mean alot of things (I'll try to describe in a minute), but that's just not how it's done usually.

And that screening? One question, right up front and it's loaded as Dem or Rep? Super fishy. No survey would ever be written that way unless a quota on Republicans had been filled already and they were trying to save money by moving that demo up front. Still though, doubtful and amateurish.

So I'm thinking one of two kinds of amateurs. The fundrasing hacks that use the good name of marketing research and a "survey" as a door opening tool just to see if you'll donate money (with no intentions of ever analyzing or publishing the data), or those jerks that just try to piss people off with reverse push polling.

People got calls before the election saying to support gay adoption by voting Kerry. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know who's behind that. I think it'd be rather silly to try and upset Republicans this time of year (no election) with a reverse "hey you got 15 minutes, oh you don't count, click" but it's not unheard of.

Here though is what's so strange. Even fundraisers are better than this. It's not like they don't generally know if you're a republican or democrat already as they use lists or spend a small fortune in dialing. A real market researcher pulling Random Digit Dialing by prefix wouldn't know, but again... a real market researcher wouldn't have such a slack introduction and screening.

So I don't know. Probably fundraising or literally just some crazy hacks who won't be taken seriously anyway. It's practically criminal what they did (from my perspective), but it's not a conspiracy among MRA/CASRO repubtable market research organizations to skew data on behalf of either the RNC or DNC. That's just silly.

Not as silly as DJ77 thinking ADVISOR, ProudAmerican, UM_Gazz, dbates, Gazrok, Gools and DontTreadOnMe are under strict orders from me, Zedd, ThomasCrowne and Springer to figure out ways to get Hillary Clinton elected via a biased liberal administration of the political conspiracies forum, but you know... still kinda silly.

Originally posted by junglejake
Maybe next time I'll lie and see where the poll goes.

Interviewer: "Are you a friend of Hillary?"

Lil' ol' me: "Well, I'd like to see her or Ted Kennedy run for office in 2008, so yeah."

Cut to November, 2008: "And in a landslide victory, Condi Rice has become our first black female president in the history of the country with 77% of the vote. Next was a small frog, who ran in with the irrelevant party, and got 18% of the vote. Finishing in third was the Clinton/Kennedy ticket with a whopping 8% of the vote"

Muh-wha-ha-ha-ha

That won't likely happen.

If it's not a real poll (which I can't see how it could be), one of two thing will follow when you lie through that screening.

The fundraiser with Soft Push: Did you know your rights are under attack?

Would you like to be a Friend, Patron or Bestest Bud of Hillary with your $5, $10 or $100 donation...

(and nothing else you say matters)

-or-

Oh, you're a Democrat!?!

The Hard Push: Well then let me ask you...

Did you know that late term abortions involve splitting a baby's skull with a can opener?

Did you know Mexicans took your job?

Did you know it's illegal to love Jesus in school?

(and nothing you say AT ALL matters)

In fact, those usually end in abuse if you're the real target of the phone call.


EDIT: Or another option. It could be sloppy last minute replacement recruiting for a local candidate's focus group! Just though of that. Little local shoppes are pretty lame when it comes to qualitative and jam all the pertinent screeners up front. So try it, you might get paid to screw up a focus group.

[edit on 8-6-2005 by RANT]

Originally posted by RANT
Not as silly as DJ77 thinking ADVISOR, ProudAmerican, UM_Gazz, dbates, Gazrok, Gools and DontTreadOnMe are under strict orders from me, Zedd, ThomasCrowne and Springer to figure out ways to get Hillary Clinton elected via a biased liberal administration of the political conspiracies forum, but you know... still kinda silly.

Of course you're all bought and paid for by Howard Dean and the Hillary '08 campaign! It's quite obvious to me. In fact I think I might start a thread in the Political Conspiracies forum about it...

If it were a GOOD conspiracy, they would have used the telephone call to empty your bank account and steal your identity (after making you disappear so you couldn't talk about the conspiracy, of course).

Since you're able to discuss the possibility of conspiracy with us now, it was probably just some telemarketer trying to make a buck. No doubt he has stats on the percentage of Republicans vs. Democrats who report and SUE for violations of the 'do not call' list. Republicans have all that money for lawyers, you know ... LOL.

Didn't the political parties use to sell the contact info for registered voters?