How accurate are polls? We are finding them less accurate and reliable than ever before. Our specialists are more sophisticated in profiling voters, for example, or trends, but... and it is a big but, most people either do not have landlines or do not answer the phone unless they recognize the caller's name.
So, polls or any other efforts that rely on the phone will be far less effective.
I take myself as an example. I no longer answer the phone unless I recognize the number or caller.
When I am at home, the phone may ring about a dozen times a day. I rarely pick up the phone until I know the caller.
Once in the recent past, when the phone rang, I recognized the number which belonged to the service account on my computer only to discover after some conversation and the caller's access to my computer, that the caller was a spoofer. My computer was compromised, and I can no longer use that computer. It was a very costly phone pick up. I had to reset my passwords, copy out critical files, report the cyber intrusion to the police, my insurance company, etc. I spent about a week correcting what I could, and I cannot download any of the files and put them on my other computer since they may be contaminated. I am handicapped on a number of projects.
So, now I am finding it is not even possible to answer the phone when I recognize the number. I need to hear the voice.
A friend was recently asked to do some calling for a charity. Three people of 100 whom she called picked up the phone. She has had the same experience with other volunteer organizations.
The poor response rate makes it unlikely that polling can be reliable. How can we work out way out of this problem?
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