What's up with Rasmussen's polling?

[Procrustes Stretched]

Live by the polls, die by the polls...

Ask Romney!

nuf said



wingnuts worrying that a pollster may stop skewing to the right

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

No matter which way they lean, they only poll people with landlines ie the majority are older. Only polling landline voters or likely voters you are not getting a proper representation of Americans.

That's a serious problem with polling. While the overwhelming majority of American households still have a land line or VOIP equivalent, this is changing. Few people are willing to take a survey on their cell phone. The result is that polling agencies have to rely on online forms, which people tend to resent. Finding participant groups becomes ever more difficult.

Good gawd, what does Nate say?



Fools, polls are fine. Interpretting them is key. Critical thinking skill sets here need to be upgraded,

 

[Uncensored2008]

[
Pretty much. And that majority is getting smaller.
My baby boomer parents now use their iPhones more than their landline.
I think I have one friend who still has a landline, other than that the overwhelming majority only have cell phones. Then there is the fact many don't even talk on the phone anymore, relying on text messages. I call my parents and work, and that is about it.

Apartment dwellers often have only cell phones. And it's a generational thing, the 20 somethings are unlikely to ever bother with a land line.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Good gawd, what does Nate say?



Fools, polls are fine. Interpretting them is key. Critical thinking skill sets here need to be upgraded,

Fool, polls are not fine. Finding sample populations is becoming difficult as the foundation of telecommunication shifts.

 

[Luissa]

[
Pretty much. And that majority is getting smaller.
My baby boomer parents now use their iPhones more than their landline.
I think I have one friend who still has a landline, other than that the overwhelming majority only have cell phones. Then there is the fact many don't even talk on the phone anymore, relying on text messages. I call my parents and work, and that is about it.

Apartment dwellers often have only cell phones. And it's a generational thing, the 20 somethings are unlikely to ever bother with a land line.

Most of my friends live in houses. They don't see the point in landlines anymore. The only friend who I can think of having a landline lives in an apartment, of course his boyfriend is 50.
If you are under say 36, you most likely don't have one.

 

[Luissa]

Good gawd, what does Nate say?



Fools, polls are fine. Interpretting them is key. Critical thinking skill sets here need to be upgraded,

Fool, polls are not fine. Finding sample populations is becoming difficult as the foundation of telecommunication shifts.

Its weird we agree on something

 

[Uncensored2008]

Its weird we agree on something

I had to do a CE class to retain my teaching certificate. I took "Statistical Polling," which turned out to be all about conducting surveys. As with everything these days, it was all team based. We first tried to conduct the survey using phones, which was a disaster. Then we turned to cell phones - ang got hung up on at least 90% of the time.

We finally went to a series of malls to get a sample group to take our survey. This was the final project, and the sample HAD to be valid.

It's a tricky business these days.