I have a land line phone and get calls all the time from polls..

[Peacetrain]

Also from local support people in the GOTV every election.

My son, and all of his friends.. (he is 23) have cell phones of course..and get no polling, no support calls.

I know people have talked about this before, the polls not really reflecting the populace.

But I wonder if we have reached a precipice.. where ever the middle age and older are part of the cell phone only group.

Because it will be make it harder and harder to GOTV.

[Fumesucker]

1. I mentioned that fact the other day and was told I was dead wrong..

And that the pollsters were calling cell phones as well..

It was in the thread about the poll that showed only 9% of the population thinks Obama is too conservative.

[Peacetrain]

3. Well I learn something every day.. I just figured they were not calling

cells because no one I know who uses cell only has gotten any calls on polls or GOTV.. Me on the other hand.. it is every night almost I get a call from some group or another

[Fumesucker]

5. I didn't say that I agreed with the person who told me that..

I think you're actually correct, it's much more difficult to reach people with cell phones, I know I don't answer numbers that I'm unfamiliar with.

For the record, I'm older and have only a cellphone and a Magicjack on my computer that I have a speakerphone plugged into, no actual land line at all.

[hlthe2b]

10. Some are calling cells, but usually only a subset as it is $$$$$

See my article linked in my other post.

[Peacetrain]

11. I think we are all going to be cell only basically in the not too distant future.

Why have all those phones anyway.

[NeedleCast]

22. There are some reason

For example, several of my friends have alarm systems on their homes and they have to have a land-line for the alarm system to work.

[hlthe2b]

8. It was serious more than three years ago: from Pew article

Definitely an increasing problem; some studies have shown it does not always result in bias, but that depends on the issue--many which dramatically differ based on age, gender, race, or SES status of those polled. Whoever stated this was not an issue is nuts... This article is from 1997, so its findings are undoubtedly far more significant now... Increasingly pollsters are going to have to pay more to try to poll at least a subsample of cell phones

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/515/polling-cell-only-problem
How Serious Is Polling's Cell-Only Problem?
The Landline-less Are Different and Their Numbers Are Growing Fast

by Scott Keeter, Director, Survey Research, Pew Research Center June 20, 2007

Twenty years ago the survey research profession -- having grown comfortable with telephone interviewing as an alternative to personal interviewing for conducting surveys -- worried mostly about the roughly 7% of U.S. households that could not be interviewed because they had no telephone. Today our concern is somewhat different, and potentially more serious. According to government statistics released last month, nearly 13% of U.S. households (12.8%) cannot now be reached by the typical telephone survey because they have only a cell phone and no landline telephone.1

If people who can only be reached by cell phone were just like those with landlines, their absence from surveys would not create a problem for polling. But cell-only adults are very different. The National Health Interview Survey found them to be much younger, more likely to be African American or Hispanic, less likely to be married, and less likely to be a homeowner than adults with landline telephones. These demographic characteristics are correlated with a wide range of social and political behaviors.
--snip--
Including a cell-only sample with a traditional landline-based poll is feasible, as the four studies conducted last year indicate. But even if feasible, cell-only surveys are considerably more difficult and expensive to conduct than landline surveys. Federal law prohibits the use of automated dialing devices when calling cell phones so each number in the cell phone sample must be dialed manually. It also is common practice to provide respondents with a small monetary incentive to offset the cost of the airtime used during the interview. And the screening necessary to reach cell-only respondents among all of those reached on a cell phone greatly increases the effort needed to complete a given number of interviews. Pew estimates that interviewing a cell-only respondent costs approximately four to five times as much as a landline respondent.

more at the link

[Peacetrain]

9. Ahhhh... thanks for the link!

[tech9413]

20. There is one major advantage to keeping a land line

Especially with a wired phone. In the event of a long term power outage, you'll probably drain the batteries on a cell and a cordless won't work at all. The phone company is required to provide back up power to maintain operation. With two 89 y/o parents, I won't risk being out of touch with emergency services.

[hlthe2b]

23. Sure... But I have back up power systems/chargers using car DC current...

And, I long ago learned to keep the car gassed up in the event of storms....

Without a land phone, I won't get reverse 911 calls, which concerned me until I realize I get RSS feeds from local tv news to my phone/computer and I'm on the internet so much, I'm extremely unlikely not to know what is going on--before the reverse 911 call ever came in. Not to mention the "neighbor" tendency to alert everyone they see whenever something is going on.

So, I no longer find that to be a compelling reason to pay monthly for something I never use.

[Lisa0825]

18. I have only had a cell phone since 2002, and I have never gotten called on it for a poll.

I occasionally get calls from campaign volunteers, but that is because I gave out my number. But NEVER a pollster.

[JonLP24]

33. I'm not sure either way

but I've never been polled for anything in my life so I don't pay much attention to them. They do seem to be somewhat accurate. They were dead on about Franken's Senate race being tied in polling the week up to the election.

[hlthe2b]

2. Well, I'm reaching that older category and most of my friends

and family members have joined me in cell phone only. SO, yes, I do think we've reached that precipice.

[Peacetrain]

4. I would ditch my land line, but I have it bundled into internet, cable the whole nine yards

But I think there are fewer and fewer of us.. that is for sure

[Robyn66]

6. One thing I can say from my experience

Neither my husband nor I have had one election call or poll call on our cell phones. But we get calls from both parties. My husband is a Republican who votes Democratic. He just can't bring himself to take the final step into the light and change parties. So we hear from EVERYBODY! But its only on our home phone.

[Peacetrain]

7. ROFL.. you guys have my sympathies ..

I know a number of people who are registered one way or another out of pure habit. I of course am so Democratic that I probably have it tattooed in places unmentionable (just kidding).. but my husband is a registered Independent and we get calls from the other side also. All on the land line of course.

[myrna minx]

12. I've had the same land line phone number since 1992 and the last

time I was polled was in 2000 for the mayor's race and for a NRA push poll. :shrug:

[Peacetrain]

14. I envy you.. I get so tired of the calls coming in

I am beginning to wonder if they have 900 of us on a list and just shop the list around. I bet I had 5 calls last night..

[myrna minx]

15. Over time, I've received all sorts of robo message calls, which are wearisome,

but no pollsters.

My sympathies - 5 times last night? :wow:

[Peacetrain]

17. Yep.. Too much too early.

Of course I am trying to give a little outside my own district to other Democrats..but these were polling call about what do you think about this or that..

[ejpoeta]

13. i thought that same thing during the 2008 election cycle.

i know that our household has been cell only for several years. i haven't gotten any of those types of calls since we ditched the landline. as far as it being harder to get out the vote, i believe that we have the internet which can help to get out the vote and most people who have ditched the landline are probably online.

[Peacetrain]

16. My only worry is that in these mid cycle elections

You get a disproportionate amount of the base out..and to be honest, they tend to be older (I am in that older category) and my bet is land line locked.

The individual state and federal representatives do not have the same GOTV sites up that they do in the 4 year big presidential elections.

But I know for sure more older voters are getting savvy on the computer. My 81 year old Mom can run circles around me

[RadiationTherapy]

19. I have a land line and 2 cell phones.

Only my land line gets called for polls and it has been very often of late.

I have never, not once, gotten a poll call on my cell.

[Peacetrain]

28. I have a cell also.. and have had it for 9 years... and have never

gotten a polling call on that line

[mainer]

34. Ditto here. Only my landline gets campaign/poll calls

cell phone never.

[NeedleCast]

21. Same Here, I have been cell phone only since 2004

and despite being a registered democrat and on dozens of national, state and local mailing and E-mailing lists, have never received a single polling call on my cell phone.

I'm not sure what middle-aged is but I think at 36 I fall into it. Many of my peers do as well. My girlfriend is cell phone only, and I would guess that roughly 50% of my friends and co-workers are cell phone only. The majortity of my friends are Democrats or lean left.

[Peacetrain]

29. There is a link up the thread

that shows the pollsters have to pay a premium price to get cell numbers.. so they are not going to do that.. until they get so embarrassed from getting it so bass ackwards so many times then they will start to poll cells.

That is my prediction

[HopeHoops]

24. I got a call from a number I didn't recognize last night. I had the Enigma album on. It was loud.

The "what to do, what to do?" question was pretty easy to answer.

[Peacetrain]

30. Caller ID has saved me more than once..

but since my brother uses Deaf Relay services to communicate.. I have to pick up those 888 and 800 numbers just in case it is him.. and I get caught by the pollers

[HopeHoops]

35. I just start talking in Russian. Usually I start with "What the fuck, over?"

I can then move on to various insults until they get frustrated and hang up.

[littlewolf]

25. I will be keeping a landline

have really poor cell service out where I am ...
I use a trac phone so it connects to any tower
and still have poor connection ...
so use the cell when out and about
and landline at home ....

[Peacetrain]

31. Yep I use both also.. By the way.. Welcome to the DU!!

:hi:

[Bluenorthwest]

26. Not just cells but Caller ID hinders cold calling polls greatly

Those who simply pick up a ringing phone and say hello are rare these days. I keep every kind of line because I have been in huge emergencies in which having options and quality really helped me and others. I humbly suggest that unless money is very tight, you can keep a land line that you do not really use, that does not even ring if you wish. So that it is there if needed.
Also, I'd point out the genius of Stewart and Colbert for doing a GOTV show. It will draw attention to the election day in a way that phone banking never could.

[Peacetrain]

27. No kidding.. that was genius on their part...

:thumbsup:

[Freddie Stubbs]

32. Just take a look at how accurate some polling forms, like PPP have been recently

They showed Meek beating Greene decisively.