Comments on: How are Political Polls Conducted?

By: trace

trace — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:49:59 +0000

i wish i knew. this will be my seventh presidential election to vote in. i have always maintained a land line. and yet, i have never been polled. who are these people that are polled and how are they "randomly selected"?
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By: king_geoian13

king_geoian13 — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:39:59 +0000

Well, polling firms will take a phone book of a respective region, count out enough numbers from the book to make a statistically correct poll, and start calling numbers. If no one answers, then they'll just draw another phone number at random and call that one instead. There are also different types of polling, like Clustered and Stratisfied polling. Both techniques are used when drawing numbers to call.
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By: Union Fireman for McCain/Palin

Union Fireman for McCain/Palin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:13:59 +0000

You are right. There has been some discussion this year about certain groups being unrepresented. Polls are conducted among (usually) registered voters at their home land line. Those without a home phone (or maybe with caller ID) are not going to be polled.

I don’t know that it is accurate to say that the pollling group not represented is predominately democrat. It is more accurate to say that there are groups of people not contacted and leave it at that.

Maybe thats one of the reasons why the polls were so far off four years ago.
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By: wdx2bb

wdx2bb — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:23:59 +0000

Most polling companies take random lists of phone numbers. The model of calling has changed in the last few years, as the companies are reaching out to more and more cellphone numbers. I’m not sure if they take a percentage of cell phones or if it is just a random sample, but this is accounted for — at least to some extent. (It has been suggested that such numbers are a little underrepresented in polling.)
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By: i'm bored

i'm bored — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:12:59 +0000

I have no Idea but in my state WV there are Obama signs everywhere and McCain has a 7 point advantage. I guess people put them in thier yards to keep his supporters out off thier yards and driveways.
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