Jeff (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} koljeff) wrote,@ 2008-10-05 12:47:00 |
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The trouble with polling numbers
This was pointed out to me last week by, admittedly, an Obama staffer: it's illegal to call people's cell phones for polling purposes. Therefore, anyone who has a cell phone not in addition to but instead of a landline (myself, for example) is automatically excluded from the polls. Now obviously sampling for political polls is never 100% representative, but what demographic has the largest number of cell-phone-using, land-line-lacking individuals? Young people, right? And who does that demographic largely support? Hint: it isn't John McCain.
This was pointed out to me last week by, admittedly, an Obama staffer: it's illegal to call people's cell phones for polling purposes. Therefore, anyone who has a cell phone not in addition to but instead of a landline (myself, for example) is automatically excluded from the polls. Now obviously sampling for political polls is never 100% representative, but what demographic has the largest number of cell-phone-using, land-line-lacking individuals? Young people, right? And who does that demographic largely support? Hint: it isn't John McCain.
