Presidential polls, the most embarassing method of data collection in US History? How does this work??

Question

I've never participated in a poll, and just like everyone else in my generation, I have a cell phone and not a land-line phone, which leaves us out of these polls and the results become dangerously biased. A substantial portion of the public opinion can be inadvertently or intentionally shaped by 'Polls'. Political pundits on national television and other opinion shapers are quick to quote any poll which helps their position. How seriously do we need to take this embarrassing situation and what would be our action plan to help to improve this method of data collection? Why are we tolerating the fact that a certain demographic, a very important one, is being completely excluded? Am I missing something here?

An alternative? How about doing this over the internet where most young people can do this. We bank over the internet, we fill out dmv forms over the internet, I just don't see why phone calls are necessary for polls. Nobody in my generation (generation y) has land line phones.

Answer 1

Election exit polls and polls taken over a phone are two completely different animals. Election exit polls are very accurate. With the exception of the past two National Elections in the United States exit polls have been used as extremely accurate predictors of the winner of a location. Voters are asked at random who they voted for as they walk out of the polling station. Once data is gathered, a stastic is used to determine a margin of error and the results usually accurately predict the winner within the established margin of error. An anomoly has occured in the last two elections here in America, that have never been seen and can not be explained through stastics or mathamatics, but maybe explained by fraud and deciet.

Telephone polls as you say are not worth the time to read about, but the average person does not understand how numbers can be manipulated to say anything the manipulator wants them to say...kind of like words. read
I could say to a girl that," your beauty is timeless" and she would be honored...but if I say the same thing with different words, like, "Your face could stop a clock" she would be insulted, even though the two sayings actually say the same thing.

See how things can be manipulated?

Cool isn't it?

Answer 2

What would you suggest as an alternative? Contrary to your suggestion, modern polls are very carefully balanced to include a sample of all demographic groups. The proliferation of cell phones may mean they have to make more calls to reach enough people, but if there were a bias, it would be revealed by the results of the other polls. When so many have similar results, it's hard to see where the flaw lies.

Answer 3

I am 40...I have a land line...and have never participated in a survey....of course, I never answer my land line...it is always sales...

I agree many people are like me...they never answer the phone....

So, the people giving info. for these polls, are more likely the aged, who are afraid not to answer the phone...and the lonely, and the ones on public welfare, who are always at home to answer.....

Answer 4

Fortunatly we have the internet, the voice of the people. On here people overwhelmingly support Ron Paul.

Answer 5

yellow/white pages for cell phones -good business idea also