Re: <nettime> epistemological crisis for US tail-chasing politics

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@panix.com>]

Michael H Goldhaber wrote:

>I'm not certain Breslin has all facts straight. The NY Times
>specifically claims to use random number generators to phone pollees,
>and if they really do, that should include cell phones.

No, they don't. In the U.S., it's illegal to make an unsolicited call
to a cell phone, since the recipient often has to pay for the call,
so the random digit generators exclude cell phone exchanges.
Pollsters are in anguish over the issue, since some unknown
percentage of people (though estimates run as a high as 7%, and
disproportionately young) have given up their landlines and gone cell
phone only.

>The Gallup poll claims more Republicans than
>Democrats among its pollees, and that seems odd, quite possibly
>indicating a biased polling method.

Much of the mischief is in the screen that Gallup uses to choose
"likely voters," which may reflect a Republican bias. More on this in
a piece to be posted to the LBO website later today.

A Republican bias at Gallup? A reason behind the funny numbers?
<http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Gallup.html>



-- 


Doug Henwood
Left Business Observer
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