I was just disqualified from answering further questions in a telephone survey of voters because...

[OmahaBlueDog]

...I was asked if I posted frequently to a politically oriented blog. I asked back "define 'blog'...I post frequently to a message board." They thanked me for my time and bid me good night.

I guess we only want to survey the uninformed.

[nc4bo]

1. Did they identify themselves or the type of survey they were taking? Just curious. nt

[OmahaBlueDog]

3. He gave the name of the survey group, but it was unfamiliar, and I can't remember it

I suspect (but can't confirm) it is sponsored by the Omaha Alliance for the Private Sector, which is a local group of wingers fighting a local tax and budget issue. However, there are a lot of those companies around locally (it was a local AC); Gallup is here, and I suspect many of their ex-employees have gone solo.

[nc4bo]

15. Probably would have been bad for your digestion anyway...

It's just odd that they were so particular on who answered their questions.

Like you said, better to spew their nonsense to the uninformed. Nothing like a fresh sponge to fill.

[madinmaryland]

2. Heh! You told them to tombstone me right the fuck now!

:rofl:

[OmahaBlueDog]

4. I feel like Walt Starr

...may he rest in blogosphere peace

[ShadowLiberal]

5. Were they asking leading questions before that question?

I've already gotten a 'survey' that turned out to basically be a senate campaign trying out several potential negative attacks on their opponent, and seeing how that changed my opinion hearing good/damning statements about the two candidates.

If that's what it was then I could see why they wouldn't want people who post on political blogs, chances are most who frequently read and post on them are either strong liberals or strong conservatives who have already made up their minds and won't change it no matter what attack ads the opposition runs, and who will already vote no matter how depressed they are about their candidate.

[OmahaBlueDog]

9. Nothing that gave away which way they were headed

1) Are you a registered voter in the household (typical)
2) Do you work for a television station, newspaper, survey organization, or political campaign (again, typical)
3) Do you write for or contribut frequently to a politically oriented blog?

You are likely right about the motivation.

[Fumesucker]

6. You should have said "What's a blog"? n/t

[OmahaBlueDog]

10. Is that one of those thingies on the interwebs?

[Pirate Smile]

16. Is that that series o' tubes I been hear'en 'bout?

[slackmaster]

7. They usually ditch me because I'm male, or single, or employed, or not in an age group

Don't take it hard, OBD. There are many potential reasons ("good" and "bad" and neutral) they might not want to poll people who post on political blogs.

[OmahaBlueDog]

11. I know, but as a frustrated poli sci major, I love answering them

Mrs. OBD, on the other hand, snarls and spits at them.

[eridani]

13. Because you are male?

I've done phone survey work before, and if they are going for target numbers balanced by sex and age, I always found it easier to get older people and women in general to respond. Those quotas filled up fastest, and then I had to tell them that the survey client wanted a broad range of people to talk to and their category had already been filled.

It's reasonable to not want blog posters--they usually disqualify media and advertising people from surveys, as well as people who work in the field they want information about.

[slackmaster]

8. Dupe

Self-delete.

[Boojatta]

12. You guess that they want to survey only the uninformed?

Guess again. Perhaps they want to survey informed people who express political opinions only when prompted over the phone. Perhaps they want to survey informed people who lie about their internet activities.

[OmahaBlueDog]

20. Boojatta, you know if they called me, they were looking for someone uninformed

Duh!

;)

[sendero]

14. Well now we know..

... when they ask the blogging question, the answer is "no".

There is no legitimate reason we should be excluded just because we are 10 times more informed than the average voter.

[OmahaBlueDog]

19. Amen!

[depakid]

17. Now for a teachable moment:

Whenever someone cites polls in the corporate media or on this site think about all of the methodological ways one can skew a poll that none of us would even know about.

[OmahaBlueDog]

18. Amen Twice!

[depakid]

22. Exclusion criteria are only one of many, many ways to skew a poll

Gallup's been quite the master at it over the years, but there are far worse offenders out there these days.

Bottom line is: more often than not in America polls are out to influence public opinion not reflect it.

[bbgrunt]

26. so true. And a poll or survey is much cheaper and

more effective at pushing opinion because no one ever asks the relevant questions about the sampling method, sample size, margin of error, or how the questions were presented.

[depakid]

27. or about the multi-stage clustering

that can change everything- even when the rest looks ostensibly random.

Bottom line is (and I think to an extent Nate Silver touched on this in his controversy with Research 2000) is that Americans need some sort of "truth in polling" review body to have a detailed look at the methods.

Not that it will prevent the media from doing irresponsible things like touting internet polls- but it would at least provide a repository for objective review and analysis.

[unkachuck]

21. "I guess we only want to survey the uninformed."

....you have admit, that is the majority of Americans....uninformed, misinformed, ignorant....it's the only reasonable explanation for what passes for politics in this country....

....we have fellow Americans hopelessly unemployed, under-employed and homeless struggling to survive and all we can talk about, and get excited about, are mosques....

[Bitwit1234]

23. I would have said no republicans lie on those surveys don't they

[Wounded Bear]

24. Surveys are like picking a jury....

Do it right, you get the outcome you want. ;)

[beyurslf]

25. Maybe they didn't want the dillusionally misinformed folks from Freeperville?

Intelligent and informed progressives are not the only ones with message boards....