This article on the Huffington Post relates to a new rule the FCC is working on to prohibit or limit autodialers calling cell phones.
A few thoughts:
- Auto Dialers are evil. If you want to annoy me, at least have the nerve to underpay a person to do it and bear my wrath if I deem to answer.
- I question the ability of polls to survive anyway. The only reasons we have a land line are a) for our alarm system and b) to have a number to give out that we never answer. Don’t start calling my cell!
- I am assuming the only people who still answer pollsters calls are elderly people, lonely people and people without Caller ID. Is this really an accurate, random sample?
- Do polls matter anyway? I love this comment from the article:
Many pollsters are worried that the small ruling will have outsized impact, making it difficult to gauge public opinion on a wide range of issues. It could “create a political system where politicians can do whatever they want without knowing what the public thinks,” Mollyann Brodie, president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, told The Huffington Post. “It should be of grave concern to both our political leaders and the American public at large.”
Since when do Lawmakers pay attention to public opinion? If they did we would have at least some basic Gun Control laws and be expanding, not putting at risk, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Lawmakers only care what their rich donor’s think.
I’m waiting for the election where all the polls turn out to be wrong and worthless. I don’t think that’s too far away-autodialer or not.
More: Pollsters Worried FCC Chairman Doesn’t Care If They Go Out Of Business.
Lost in the 21st Century 