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December 11, 2005

Why Did the Senator Cross the Road? Because the polls told her to.

“Ask not for whom the public opinion polls; it polls for thee.”
~ Edwin Newman

Spam, junk mail, phone solicitations, phone surveys and public opinion polls: I hold them all in equal regard, as should we all. They are each a waste of our time, a detriment to productivity, and a hindrance to progress. These are all common annoyances that plague our daily lives. However, polls and phone surveys are not simply annoying parts of our lives anymore. Their slanted and inaccurate results have poisoned our political process. Unfortunately, the disturbance does not disappear by just hanging up our phones.

Personally, I respond to poll and survey takers as I do telemarketers: I politely make it known that I am not interested, and if they do not respond with the same understanding, I promptly hang up. Many people do not realize that there are laws in Massachusetts requiring telemarketers to inform you of a substantial amount of pertinent information in the first minute of their call: 1) What company they are working for, 2) What company or organization hired them to solicit you, 3) What they are attempting to sell, 4) The market value of what they are selling, and more. If you are not on the Massachusetts “Do Not Call” list, all of these rules (and more) apply. Anyone who has been the unfortunate recipient of such a call knows that this law is rarely adhered to. This brings me to my next question: Shouldn't similar laws apply to organizations and businesses conducting public opinion polls?

There have only been two survey takers who I have been bored enough to placate with answers. On both occasions, I could hear in the questioner's voice when they started getting answers that did not jive with the results they were fishing for. On one of these occasions, I was actually told they had no further questions when I told them I was not willing to agree with a statement they were proposing to me. You see, these callers often bait the hook with a number of questions that are perfectly agreeable to any sensible, caring individual, and then they sneak in the real purpose of their poll by way of a seemingly innocuous statement quite different than the previous questions. Just for example, after answering in the affirmative to a series of public education related questions, I had a conversation something like this:

Survey Taker (scripted statement): “Wouldn't you agree that the people who prepare meals for our University students deserve a yearly increase in their wages?”

My Answer: “No.” (my first negative answer in the phone call)

Survey Taker (unscripted): “Excuse me? You don't think the people who prepare meals for our students and educators should get yearly raises?”

Me: “I said no. I think they should be paid on a scale equivalent to the public sector. Personally, I haven't had a raise in two years. Can you fit that in the yes or no answer box?”

Survey Taker (quickly wraps up the call): “Well, thank you for your time. Have a good evening.”
In my opinion, these calls are equal to the annoyance of sales calls, and their purpose is often more deceitful. At the very least, they should be regulated by laws similar to those that apply to telemarketing. Personally, I would support the idea of banning them outright. If people are opposed to completely banning these public opinion polls, perhaps a disclosure label similar to a nutrition label should accompany their use in the media. Heck, if we need to be informed of the empty nutritional value of junk foods, we should at least get visible warning of similarly empty poll results. Perhaps the tendency to cook the results would not be so great if everyone could easily see the ingredients.

Can you imagine politicians acting on principle instead of catering to poll results? Can you imagine the political climate in this country if everyone were not bombarded with polls claiming to have discerned what the majority thinks about a particular issue? Luckily, with 95% confidence, the majority of us recognize that, in addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls. In simpler terms (for the uncertain 5%), poll results can easily be, and are most often, skewed. Polls and surveys are a shady business that have no justifiable use in our political process.

Posted by capecodcyclist at December 11, 2005 10:16 AM

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