I thought we learned in 2016. Everybody laughed at how ridiculous the poll numbers were and so many saw right through how it was manipulated for a reason. And what happens….months later….back to the poll numbers as if nothing was revealed about them. 🤦🏼♀️ The sheer stupidity of it all! And the media leads the charge, unsurprisingly. E…
I thought we learned in 2016. Everybody laughed at how ridiculous the poll numbers were and so many saw right through how it was manipulated for a reason. And what happens….months later….back to the poll numbers as if nothing was revealed about them. 🤦🏼♀️ The sheer stupidity of it all! And the media leads the charge, unsurprisingly. Even Trump touts poll numbers!!! I’m always like…. NOOOOOOO STOP IT!!!
Nowadays you’d have to be nuts 🥜 to answer a pollster’s call ☎️ . Who knows whether they’re from the fake news 🤥 (or worse)? So maybe only dems and their paid operatives answer the polls; the rest of us talk to our friends, family, neighbors, and (hoping...) their elected representatives.
Oh I always answer them and record them, find out who paid for it, and if they are coming from the D side, I send the recording to the R side. It is interesting to see how they slant the question from one side or the other. Few of them are really asking open ended questions, they are designed to elicit a certain response. I also am volunteering with AFP making phone calls, it is an open ended survey on issues, and in an hour of calling, I am lucky to get 3 responses, and almost all are over ~age 50 or so. Most people don't answer or hang up before I can even get the first sentence out.
However, for years I was part of a survey panel, where you got 'points' for answering surveys that you could cash in for money or gift cards, and sometimes included opportunities to participate in panel discussions for cash. I got paid $125 cash to talk about cat food for an hour, for instance. Topics were all over the map, from breakfast cereal to politics. The survey company got bought by Ipsos and they started asking too many personal questions so I bailed, but suspect that a lot of the polling respondents come from such panels.
I am not sure how big the base is, but it started for me about 25 years ago. A local company called 'Delve' would sign up people to be in their database, and they would call me a few times a month to ask questions, and if I qualified, I would go to their offices to be on a focus group panel. Pay ranged from ~$50-$150 for an hour or 2 of providing opinions. In some cases they would send you products to try at home then come in and talk about them. It was a pretty sweet deal, I was working PT as I had young kids at home so a little extra cash was nice. Over time, Delve got bought by a bigger company, and then a bigger company bought them, and everything started just being online. Rare to get an in person cash offer, mostly it was points for online surveys that you could turn into cash, and it only netted a couple of hundred a year or so. But I do survey work from time time in my business, so I stayed plugged in as it was just interesting to me. The latest iteration was called 'Knowledge Panel' (which I still see in some methodology footnotes as the database they used) but that was I think it was either bought or partners with Ipsos. Started feeling uncomfortable with the idea that they asked a lot more personal questions and no longer made responses optional so I bailed, but my hubby still does them. He gets political surveys from time to time and I look over his shoulder at the questions. But I do answer phone surveys that randomly come in, they are mostly for local and state candidates, and they ask demographic info at the end so when it gets to the income part I hang up. None of their business.
I thought we learned in 2016. Everybody laughed at how ridiculous the poll numbers were and so many saw right through how it was manipulated for a reason. And what happens….months later….back to the poll numbers as if nothing was revealed about them. 🤦🏼♀️ The sheer stupidity of it all! And the media leads the charge, unsurprisingly. Even Trump touts poll numbers!!! I’m always like…. NOOOOOOO STOP IT!!!
Nowadays you’d have to be nuts 🥜 to answer a pollster’s call ☎️ . Who knows whether they’re from the fake news 🤥 (or worse)? So maybe only dems and their paid operatives answer the polls; the rest of us talk to our friends, family, neighbors, and (hoping...) their elected representatives.
Oh I always answer them and record them, find out who paid for it, and if they are coming from the D side, I send the recording to the R side. It is interesting to see how they slant the question from one side or the other. Few of them are really asking open ended questions, they are designed to elicit a certain response. I also am volunteering with AFP making phone calls, it is an open ended survey on issues, and in an hour of calling, I am lucky to get 3 responses, and almost all are over ~age 50 or so. Most people don't answer or hang up before I can even get the first sentence out.
However, for years I was part of a survey panel, where you got 'points' for answering surveys that you could cash in for money or gift cards, and sometimes included opportunities to participate in panel discussions for cash. I got paid $125 cash to talk about cat food for an hour, for instance. Topics were all over the map, from breakfast cereal to politics. The survey company got bought by Ipsos and they started asking too many personal questions so I bailed, but suspect that a lot of the polling respondents come from such panels.
Wow, this is educational as I never knew about this survey things and that lots of people participate
I am not sure how big the base is, but it started for me about 25 years ago. A local company called 'Delve' would sign up people to be in their database, and they would call me a few times a month to ask questions, and if I qualified, I would go to their offices to be on a focus group panel. Pay ranged from ~$50-$150 for an hour or 2 of providing opinions. In some cases they would send you products to try at home then come in and talk about them. It was a pretty sweet deal, I was working PT as I had young kids at home so a little extra cash was nice. Over time, Delve got bought by a bigger company, and then a bigger company bought them, and everything started just being online. Rare to get an in person cash offer, mostly it was points for online surveys that you could turn into cash, and it only netted a couple of hundred a year or so. But I do survey work from time time in my business, so I stayed plugged in as it was just interesting to me. The latest iteration was called 'Knowledge Panel' (which I still see in some methodology footnotes as the database they used) but that was I think it was either bought or partners with Ipsos. Started feeling uncomfortable with the idea that they asked a lot more personal questions and no longer made responses optional so I bailed, but my hubby still does them. He gets political surveys from time to time and I look over his shoulder at the questions. But I do answer phone surveys that randomly come in, they are mostly for local and state candidates, and they ask demographic info at the end so when it gets to the income part I hang up. None of their business.
I’ve participated in those too, though not recently.
Or worse.....an AI recording your voice for future manipulation of your family or friends!
Do you know how easy it is to make up poll numbers?
These are the amount of people I called: random number
Here's the amount answers I got one way: biased number based on random number
Here's the amount that went the other way: random number - biased number based on random number
You can make all this data up without calling a single person! Just make it look reasonable.
As I recall, the Rasmussen poll told the tale accurately in 2016. No doubt that's been "fixed" since then.
Rasmussen is generally a conservative pollster that tends to get things more accurately. Or at least they were.