General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI was called for a CNN poll and one of the questions was really weird. What does this tell them?
Most of it was normal political stuff, but then they asked whether we have an old landline phone in our house that we aren't using. I thought no so I said no, but then I later remembered that we actually do have one. So what in the world of data analysis would this tell them?
Timewas
(2,199 posts)A lot of "surveys" are set up to sound one way when in fact they are only looking for data on one specific thing and will ask a lot of different questions that sound like that is what they are interested in and then throw in a question that seems out of place and that is really all they are interested in
gollygee
(22,336 posts)RDANGELO
(3,435 posts)People with landline phones tend to be more conservative which is why they try to get both. They may be trying to find out what is going on so that they can be more accurate.
We disconnected ours within the last six months.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)and that's what they were asking - whether we still had an old unused one in a closet somewhere or anything.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,719 posts)gollygee
(22,336 posts)They called on my cell phone.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,719 posts)If yes it means there will be a poll coming out soon.
I assume they asked you your race, education, income, et cetera.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)approve/disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling the pandemic
and how he handles a lot of other stuff, like BLM, immigration, etc.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,719 posts)gollygee
(22,336 posts)stopbush
(24,398 posts)They were testing your memory...and you failed. 😱
MontanaMama
(23,366 posts)gopiscrap
(23,766 posts)and we have 3 cell phones haven't had a landline since 2007 there are looking for landline users so they can rig the pole landline users tend to be more conservative
gollygee
(22,336 posts)We have 4 people and 3 have cell phones - one isn't quite old enough yet. They wanted to know if we had an old one we aren't using sitting in a closet or something. They called on the cell phone.
MontanaMama
(23,366 posts)An old land line you arent using? If you had a land line and was usable...meaning you would plug a phone in and would get a dial tone. I guess some people might have that...but if so, it is a service they are paying for and not using. I would think it isnt common for folks to pay for a land line and leave it unused. The weird thing is...the land line probably isnt sitting in a closet. Sounds like whoever was asking the question didnt word it well, or maybe doesnt even know what a land line is or does!
gollygee
(22,336 posts)MontanaMama
(23,366 posts)Thats even an odder question!
gollygee
(22,336 posts)I can't imagine what that means.
ProfessorGAC
(65,337 posts)Cellphones are ubiquitous. Older, SS dependent folks have jitterbug or Citizen's Cellular and ditched the land line to save money.
We have a VOIP landline, but we definitely wouldn't be classified as conservative.
Two cells & a landline for us.
I know you said "tend" but that seems to be shifting.
Look at Rasmussen polls. Yes, they've made some changes to be less landline dependent, but Biden's smoking PINO in their polls.
gopiscrap
(23,766 posts)but I think a lot of the polling mind set, specially polls that want to get a specific answer still think the trend is that landline only users are more conservative than liberal
ProfessorGAC
(65,337 posts)I think they're wrong, but yes, they probably do still think that way.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,926 posts)Especially since they didn't seem to care if you actually had a landline itself, just a phone that could be plugged into one.
Personally, I keep both a landline and a cell phone because there are times when the cell towers will be down (think 9/11, think Katrina) and if you don't have a landline you're screwed. Conversely, in a normal power outage, the landline won't work and you want to have a cell phone.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)Hekate
(90,978 posts)...dont use landlines at all. Therefore traditional telephone polls skew older and more conservative.
You might have just lucked into one of the first efforts by pollsters to find out if what we already knew was true, is indeed true.
Hekate
(90,978 posts)It used to be a given that telephones were a Public Utility, like gas lines to your house, and that you could have a repairman come to your home and fix a problem for free.
Not any more.
JHB
(37,163 posts)When they asked about a "landline phone" were they specifically asking about a device? Or could that have meant "landline" (for anyone who wouldn't necessarily recognize the term all by itself but would recognize "landline phone" vs. "cell phone" )?
In other words, were they asking if you have an old phone in the attic or garage, or if the house still has a landline that nobody uses?
For a number of years I had a landline I didn't use, as I became more and more accustomed to relying on the cell phone. Eventually I dropped the landline because nobody called me on it except groups asking for money, and the connection had become terrible and staticy. When reviewing my expenses, my rationales for maintaining it had evaporated and I dropped it.
They may be trying to identify cases like that to figure out numbers they can weed out of their call list.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)It was just about the physical landline phone.