Yesterday I did a post about ways to respond to political pollsters that raises questions like what do you owe telephone survey folks? The only things I said you owe them are some respect and friendliness, because it's not an easy job. I just got a call from a local Anchorage number - 268 2121. It's a bit late for calls, but I answered it.
Caller: May I speak to Steve?
Me: Whose calling?
Caller: Tanya. I'm from MRS.
Me: [She sounded tired, and remembering my advice, I answered in a very friendly] Hi Tanya, how are you doing tonight? What is MRS and where are you?
Tanya: McQuire Research Service, in Nevada.
Well she was clearly pleased to get a friendly response and, in her words, "not to be yelled at." But I did tell her about yesterday's blog post and she asked if I wanted to do the survey. Since she'd identified her company, which I'd said yesterday legit pollsters should do, I said, 'Sure."
Tanya: How likely are you to vote next month?
Steve: Barring getting hit by a bus . . . you know Tanya, actually, I plan to vote next Monday when early voting starts. So I'm definitely voting in October, not next month.
Tanya: . . . .
Steve: If I say I'm not voting next month, that ends the survey, doesn't it?
Tanya: Yes . . .
Steve: I guess they didn't write the question very well, because I'm sure they don't care when I vote, do they? But since I'm not going to vote next month, and I answered honestly 'no,' you have to end this right?
Tanya: Yes,
I thought I heard an unspoken, "but . ."
I hope she still gets paid, even though we only did the first question. But she shouldn't be penalized if people don't plan to vote. That's information too. I should have asked her.
[OK, this post is sort of a stall. I'm working on several longer posts that aren't quite right yet, and this seemed like an easy filler. But if you didn't see the original post Dantzing With Pollsters, that has a little more meat.
I don't generally watch television or listen to much AM radio, so I'm relatively spared a lot of the political advertising. The mailed advertising doesn't make noises and is easy to put into the recycle bin.
But I noticed tonight, getting a Youtube clip for a post I'm working on, that I got a Dan Sullivan ad linking Mark Begich to Obama before the video. But I had to play the video several times and then I got Begich ads with a women talking about how Sullivan would interfere between her and her doctor at her clinic.
Steve, thank you! When pollster's ask my race I say American. Maybe Cross-country is a better response?
ReplyDeleteYes, have fun with the callers, and not at their expense. Help them smile a bit cause you know they wouldn't be doing this job if they could find something better.
ReplyDelete