Are Pollsters In The Bag?

[Catseye3]

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/506336-are-the-pollsters-all-in-the-bag-for-biden

After a lot of interesting schoolroom material, the bottom line: "No matter how you cut it, Trump is behind. Some polls may be undercounting his strongest demographics, but not by enough to make a big difference."

Whatever.

Polls, schmolls. Has any poll examined the reasons those surveyed answer the way they do? I.e., You:

• Don't know, but answer like you do;
• Don't care, but answer like you do;
• Your husband is listening on the extension, and if you don't answer "right" he's gonna break-a you face;
• Your boss, whom you hate, would answer X, so you answer Y just because he's a jerk;
• You thought it was a poll for a new coffee.

How about a poll like this? The poll guy says, "Good day, Madam. Would you answer a question for the XYZ pollster?"

You: "Okay."

Poll Guy: "First, a little background, okay? There is a drone zeroed on your house. It is remotely monitoring your 12 pulse points in the manner of a lie detector. It is the latest technology from the U.S. Government. If you lie to me, it will zap you good. Do you understand?"

You: . . .

Poll Guy: "Good. Now for the question. Have you ever lied when answering a poll?"

You: . . .

Poll Guy: "Hello?"

You: . . .

Poll Guy: "Hello? Ma'am? No need to be afraid. Just tell the truth and no harm will come to you. Did you understand the question?"

You: . . .

Poll Guy: "Hello -- (to colleague) She hung up."

Colleague: "Gee, just like the other 300 people we've called with this question."

Poll Guy: "I think this plan isn't working too well."

[Mik]

[taiwan_girl]

Polls, like any statistic, and be made to sound good depending on how you want to "spin" it.

Week 1 Poll

Candidate A - 20%
Candidate B - 80%

Week 2 Poll

Candidate A - 21%
Candidate B - 79%

Press release from Candidate A
"Polls show continuing increase in support for Candidate A" LOL

[jon-nyc]

There are people like Loki who won’t admit Trump support when asked but pull the lever all the same. I understand it in in-person interactions, depending on where one lives. Seems weird to an anonymous pollster on the phone though.

[jon-nyc]

And in seriousness, seems like there would be less of that this time around. At least in swing states.

But nevertheless, the real possibility of this so-called preference falsification is what tempers my excitement about the polls this year.