Election Polling and skewed results.

[buzzlightyearsgirlfriend]

I was wondering to myself today about how younger people and first time voters were being polled.

Are the research companies/ political parties engaging appropriately with the technology used by younger people in order to seek their views?

All the young people I know refuse to answer numbers which show up as private or from overseas unless they know someone overseas and the call is expected.

So, tonight, I got a call showing up as from overseas on my caller ID. Youngest son saw it first and told me not to answer. I answered. It was an election poll. I participated.

And now I'm wondering if all the polls are stupidly skewed. My mother won't answer a call from overseas and will hang up on a machine asking her questions.  My kids and the other young people I know (I know LOTS and LOTS and LOTS who are elible to vote btw) would not even bother answering or participating simply because they won't answer a call when they don't know the person calling. They've been brought up with being aware of the dangers of engaging with strangers online or on their smartphones, cyber bulllying and all the rest.

Might the polls be stupidly skewed?

To engage with older people who have caller ID you need to call them using a local number not an overseas number, they just won't answer.

To engage with young people you need to engage with the technology they use and engage with them the way they use it. Is this being done?

I doubt it is.

[purplecarrot-top]

My husband will not answer his phone if it is private or a number he does not know.

[monman12]

"And now I'm wondering if all the polls are stupidly skewed."

There are  quite a few recognised  forms of bias that polling protocols make allowance for, including selection bias.: 

" If the people who refuse to answer, or are never reached, have the same characteristics as the people who do answer, then the final results should be unbiased.

If the people who do not answer have different opinions then there is bias in the results.

In terms of election polls, studies suggest that bias effects are small, but each polling firm has its own techniques for adjusting weights to minimize selection bias"

[mugssy65]

Buz I don't think it's just young people I won't answer overseas ones either, I just assume their telemarketers!

[***super_nova***]

I just do not answer any questions to anybody calling me.  How do you know they are legit?  Some years ago I got some telemarketer survey and I must have been really bored because I agreed to participate, but after few really ordinary questions they asked things that I did not think is a good idea to answer.  First they asked about if I have an Internet, then few questions which non directly gave them idea how old my computer (and other appliances) might be, then how often do I go for holidays and will I be taking holidays in the next 4 weeks.  It was definitely real legit company.  BUT bleepy hell, I am not telling anybody I have an expensive brand new laptop & plasma TV, and will be in Thailand for the next 2 weeks  LOL