Have you been polled? Has anyone you know been polled?

[live love laugh]

A friend and I here in Chicago were discussing this and of course we and nobody we know has been polled—not just in this election season but election seasons back as far as we can remember. When I lived in Wisconsin I was though.

That says a lot to me about the validity of polls.

[Trenzalore]

1. I was polled on my thoughts on the economy 3 years ago

I forget the university.

[csziggy]

2. I've been polled a few times - most recently about two months ago

In 2016 I cracked up the pollster when she asked me if I would vote for Trump. My response was, "Not if he held a gun to my head."

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. never in my 64 years

[Awsi Dooger]

4. I've been polled several times this year and do YouGov all the time

Maybe they can reach me because I still have a landline. I pay 5 bucks per month using Ooma.

A few weeks ago I hung up on the same pollster two days in a row because the opening question was, "Are you a member of either the Republican Party or the Democrat Party?"

When I corrected to Democratic Party they had no idea what I was talking about. I asked them to repeat the question and it came out the same way again. Identical two days in a row. I hung up both times.

The surveys I did complete were very long. One was absurdly long because it included local politicians as well as national. They must have asked my opinion on 50 different topics and politicians. I told them at end that I never would have agreed to the survey if I'd understood the duration

[Drunken Irishman]

5. This is up there with the posts on FB asking if anyone has known someone with COVID...

You do realize there are like 350 million people who live in America, right?

But your own hypothesis is now bunk as there are a handful of people in this thread who have been polled, so, you can say confidently you know someone who's been polled.

[live love laugh]

8. Yeah I know it's probably very stupid and I understand extrapolation

but it just seems invalid that seemingly so few are polled.

[Drunken Irishman]

15. I doubt so few people are polled...

What is an adequate number of people who should be polled? It's actually not the quantity of the people being polled but the quality of the models ... which is why they can get a decent sample of voters' opinions out of such a small sample size.

Here's something to think about: In the 1936 presidential election, The Literary Digest predicted Alf Landon would beat FDR by a comfortable margin during FDR's reelection campaign. They sent out 10 million polls for people to vote in - and 2.27 million responded, meaning they polled 2.27 million people to get their results.

That's unheard of today - let alone in the 1930s.

Despite polling over two-million people, FDR won reelection in the largest electoral landslide in modern history. It all but ended the magazine's run.

Sample size is less relevant than MOE.

But even then, since 7/12, there have been seven national polls released and combined they've polled 11,337 people. That's a lot of people.

[live love laugh]

16. Thanks 😊 for helping me gain a better understanding.

I’ll have to look more into MOE.

[Sogo]

23. What's MOE??

[Drunken Irishman]

26. Margin of Error.

[scarletlib]

6. I have been polled and frequently get Civics polls.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Polled by Gallup on my cell phone!

[mercuryblues]

9. I've been polled several times.

The last one was a push poll for the republican candidate. LOL They tried every which way from Sunday to get me to say I would vote for the republican.

It's got to be bad for them to resort to push polling to make it look like a republican is getting more support than they actually are.

[yankeepants]

10. I got rid of my landline 2 years ago.

I have not had a polling call since which leads me to believe that these polls are skewed to only gather the opinions of a very narrow demographic: people with landlines.

[Golden Raisin]

11. I still have a landline. Also have a cell.

I'm pushing 71 and have never been polled.

[Locutusofborg]

12. Polled on my landline by Quinnipiac University

Polling Institute, last Fall. It was my first time.

[smirkymonkey]

13. Never. However I have not had a landline in about 20 years and I never

answer my cell phone unless I recognize the number, so I guess that would explain it. I think most people who pick up the phone when they don't know who is calling probably skew older.

[Wellstone ruled]

14. Polled Monday night.

Questions were, are you planning on Voting in the upcoming Presidential Election .

Are you a Dem or rethug. Do you approve of Donald Trumps handling of our Economy. Do you approve of Donald Trumps handling of the Covid Virus.

Do you have a positive feeling for Mayor Carol Goodman. Do you have a positive feeling for Council Person Michele Fiore. Do you have a positive feeling for Congressman Horsford.

Forgot one,what is your opinion of our Governor.

Ask as to whom was sponsoring this poll. Battle Born Media(Sheldon Adelson Family)

[TheFarseer]

17. I get polled at least once

Every election season.

[xmas74]

18. In 2012

On the Akin/McCaskill race. They heavily slanted towards Akin in the questions. They didn't like my answers.

[xmas74]

19. And once tonight,

Until they realized I didn't live in South Dakota.

[Maeve]

20. Numerous times every election cycle

Land-line that we actually answer

[Talitha]

21. Never. Not in 68 years.

Never by phone, never in person, never by mail.

I've lived in 2 states and have owned 5 houses in them.

Have never been polled.

Not once.

[Cicada]

22. I have been polled a few times

The power of math tells us that a randomly selected sample of one thousand from a universe of a billion will likely get close to the correct percentage. The probability of getting within 3% of the correct percentage is about 95%.And the historic accuracy of polls proves the math actually works.

It is hard to believe that polls work that well, but we have historical results proving they do.

[Sogo]

24. Yes and yes...

[wishstar]

25. I was polled early this year but it was a slanted Repub push poll

The questions were designed to solicit responses in favor of Trump policies such as on immigration so instead of answering the questions I explained my objections and told them off.

In prior major elections years I have been polled and so have friends by legitimate polls. But not yet this year regarding Trump v. Biden or Senate or House races.

[Celerity]

27. all the time via the major academic poll here in Sweden, but never a US poll, not even via email

I also get an occasional UK poll, again via email.

[Bob Munck]

28. YES! Many, many times.

We lived in the Virginia suburbs of DC 1989-2016. During that time, we would get maybe half a dozen pollster calls during every election cycle. Half of them were pretty obviously "push-polls," designed to evoke a particular response and maybe even change our minds a bit. After a while I began to play with the pollster, telling him what he wanted to hear and then suddenly going on a wild rant saying just the opposite. It doesn't stop them calling, but I enjoy doing the ranting.

Before that, we lived in the Boston suburbs 1973-1989 and it was true there too, but maybe not quite as often. We became aware early on that the people around us in either area weren't getting polled at the same rate as we were.

Since 2016 we've lived in the Charlotte NC suburbs, up on Lake Norman. We're still getting polling calls, but have lately stopped answering the landline (I'm 75; we're required to have a landline.) and wait to see the transcript that the voice mail emails us. Pollsters don't wait for voice mail.

We haven't a clue why we would have been singled out. We're both just ordinary computer techies, degrees in CS from a good Ivy and a fair amount of government contracting work, mostly DoD, but most of our friends can say the same and they're not getting called. I haven't even been mentioned in the news since I made all-state in high school football. My wife was when she set some weight-lifting records, but that was fairly recent. We do contribute to Democrats, but the push-polls have been uniformly right-wing.