Have you ever been called by a pollster, human or (cue eerie music) inhuman? I have many times, lately it’s been robocalls. I can understand people saying they don’t believe the polls, but I don’t understand why they would lie to the polls, or worse, try to tell a pollster what they think he wants to hear.
If you were asked questions by a pollster, would you tell the truth?
In Georgia and Tennessee, we’ve had early voting for several weeks. My sweet wife and I votes last Friday, the practical option for her and a fear-based option for me. I had planned to get up early this morning and get to the court house where we vote by 7:00, but fearing a possible line or my inability to get out that early I voted midday Friday. The thing I hate most about voting is learning about a race for the first time when you’re in the voting booth (or at the stall as it is with us). I didn’t vote for one of the judicial candidates in my area because I’d never heard about the race, didn’t know any of the six names on the list, and didn’t feel good about sending up Hail Mary vote.
Anyway, tell us about your voting experience and whether you’re truthful with pollsters.
I believe I was called by a genuine pollster once, but it was long ago. I got a “poll call” of a sort the other evening, but it was a “push poll” trying to influence me to vote for Al Franken.
I always make a point of finding official sample ballots on the internet beforehand, so that I’ll know exactly what the races are. Judges are a particular problem. Happily, Fraters Libertas gave a rundown of judicial races (also Soil and Water Conservation Board posts) in our area, and that was a big help. I also check the bar association website, where they post very vague profiles of judicial candidates. I always note how they answer the question about “Should politics have any part in judicial elections?” I vote against those who say it should have no part, since it’s code language for “I don’t want the public to know anything about my judicial philosophy.”
Someone on Fraters Libertas also pointed out that it’s a good idea just to leave uncontested judicial races blank. Because judges are likely to say, “I was re-elected with 95% of the vote,” not mentioning that they ran unopposed.
I’ve never been polled, but I did stand in line for two-and-a-half hours this morning to vote.
Right. Now to work!
Oh, I forgot to mention. My rule for judicial elections is, “When in doubt, if there’s a choice, vote against the incumbent.” At least in these parts, that’s usually a good bet.
As David Letterman used to say, “And if you’ve ever been poled, you know how painful it can be.”
Of course I’d rather be polled than poled.
My local paper published a sample ballot so I had all the names last week. I read through the questionnaires by all the Soil & Water Board, School Board, and County Commissioner candidates. I identified which unopposed incumbent district judicial candidates were closest so I could write in the names of local lawyers I know. But the ones that surprised me were the Township Board Member and Township Clerk that were entirely open. I suppose that they weren’t on the sample ballot since nobody had filed for the position. I wrote in a couple of old timers from my church, one of whom was working as an election judge.