Polled

Yesterday I got a call on my cell phone from a restricted number. Sometimes I don’t answer those calls, but maybe I was bored, so I answered anyway. It was someone from a company that said they were doing a poll for NBC and the Wall Street Journal. I was suspicious and asked how I knew they were doing this (they can’t really prove they are legitimate), how they picked my number (randomly selected phone number), and how long the poll would take (7 minutes). What is interesting is that I get very, very few telemarketing calls because the phone isn’t even in my name officially. And I try not to give out the number (usually I give companies my old land line number).

Anyway, they proceeded to ask me demographic questions like my race, whether I had any other phones, my age, plus a bunch of questions about whether I had voted in the past, if I had voted early, and how likely I was to vote on Tuesday (definitely). They also asked me general opinion questions on what I thought of Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. They asked me which one I thought could get things done if elected and I said neither. I just don’t think it’s possible right now. They also asked who I had voted for in 2008 and who I would vote for this year. At the end they asked me for my initials “for verification” and I gave them TC as the most likely answer, though they might have the answer as EC, JC, or DC depending on how they got the number and what name is listed.

Today I saw an article about NBC and Wall Street Journal’s final election poll of the year, surveying 1,475 likely voters, including 443 cell phone only respondents (me). Obama has a slight edge of 48% to 47% compared to the last poll which was tied at 47%, but the margin of error is 2.55%.

I think it is interesting that some people are saying the polls aren’t accurate because they are calling people on land lines and hardly anyone has those. But they called me on a cell phone, so I think they have it worked out.