on my cell, if i don't recognize it, it goes to voicemail.

I've won too many trips to the Caribbean as it is.

I will either answer it if I hear the message and it is worthwhile or ignore it. Most of them, probably 99%, just hang up when there is no answer but the pre-recorded message.

I have a landline, but I also have caller id. I usually don't answer unless I recognize the number. Sometimes I might not recognize it, but it looks local so I might answer it. I agree... I hate the disruption.

I don't know how much it weighs on the polls, but it could be more older people answering them. Ones without caller id and ones that don't get a whole lot of calls to begin with.

I would assume that phone polls using cell or landlines are extremely suspect. We have been getting multiple calls per day on our landline that will have i.e. Austin,TX for a name with an area code that isn't Austin. Sometimes they come in with local numbers but the names are suspect. We even had on spoof our own phone number. Anyway we don't answer those calls and they never leave a message.

Haven't received many unknown calls on the cell phones, but don't answer those either. If a polling organization wants my opinion they need to stop using shady methods to get people to answer the phone.

If "phone polls using cell or landlines are extremely suspect" what type of polls are not suspect?

I really don't have an answer. Internet polls are mostly worthless, because the people replying cannot be scientifically randomized. If someone can answer your question, I sure would like to know it.

I've been getting robo-calls saying I've won a vacation almost constantly on my cell phone, so if I don't recognize the number as at least local, I don't pick up. I also don't have time for political calls. I can donate on my own.

9 times out of 10 it begins with 'you have won a cruise!!!' -

So - nope.

times. We all have phones, have Caller ID, maybe some of those calls didn't answer was polling don't know.

we're getting more and more calls on our cells (which we ignore).

Like most who have responded in this thread, I just wonder how pollsters determine their fabulously scientific data when most of us don't answer unsolicited calls.

(I also don't answer the door unless it's UPS, FedEx or our friendly mail carrier.)

I never answer my phone if I don't have the number saved.

I let the answer machine take care of it. And more importantly, I don't care if I mess up any polling.

Every elderly person I know answers their phone all the time. And everyone else I know screens before answering, if at all.

There has to be a skewing built in that. Do polls adjust for it?

Dunno ~

Goes straight to voicemail. Usually no message left. Once they hear the automated greeting, they hang up. Once again who are these people they poll? Why do the polls fluctuate so much? Almost seems like they call the same "UNSURE"??? people each time.

Since moving to wireless internet, my landline is is dead.

If I dont recognize the caller on my cell, it goes to VM.

The caller (about a week ago) said they were from some polling outfit, asked if I voted 4 years ago and said that they would call via automated calls once a month until election if I would hit 1 on my phone to authorize my okay. The caller was very insistent and rude about my hitting the 1, but I was in awkward position holding railing on basement steps and in a hurry to get another call and suspicious of callers, so I just hung up. There were no candidate questions.

But usually I either pickup and hangup immediately or just let the call go to answering machine after 3 rings, when I am near phone with caller I.D. and caller is unknown long distance.

It would only affect the polls if supporters of one candidate were more or less likely to respond than supporters of the other.

to have landlines and to answer unidentified or unknown calls.

participating in polls.

Even bought one of those zappers so that I can reject crap calls on my landline permanently if they call more than once. (Yes, still have one - required for the type of security system in our house.) For my cell, I use an app that filters known scam calls. etc.

What's their sample group? Do they base them on exit interviews from WalMart?

...I'm happy to hang up if I'm not interested in the call.

Add to which I get too many calls from candidates to know what phone number they're coming from.

I get calls, I assume from pollsters and other Democrats, I won't answer them. Weird how my cell phone doesn't have caller ID, I'd probably answer if I knew who it was.

and I just say Nope. They try to contact my wife by asking for her by name as if its a private call. Sneaky. And they use deceptive business names often including "research".

I once heard my mother cheerfully giving out all her personal details to some anonymous caller. So I convinced her to stop that and explained how dangerous that was. Luckily she had no computer then.

So there must be a great deal of "poll" bias with less aware people being included.

Since I get some for work.
But as soon as I answer and find out it's a telemarketer or political caller, I hang up. Stop wasting my time.

And I realize that I might miss some legitimate calls from campaigns that are asking me to volunteer for some event, etc. As far as I'm concerned, if anyone has anything important to tell me, they can and will leave a message. If a polling outfit wants to reach more respondents, they need to have the caller ID identify them by name. If PPP or Quinnipiac or any other firm would like my opinion, I might consider answering if I see and recognize a name. Otherwise, I'm going to assume you are the guy with a foreign accent telling me my PC has a problem, the woman informing me that the IRS has a case pending and I must appear before a "magistrate," or anyone trying to sell me a security system or cheap electricity.

The identity thing goes for political campaigns trying to reach people to get out and vote. When I used to phone bank for campaigns, before the near-universal use of cellphones, you went to the campaign headquarters and used their phones. Now, they ask you to bring your own cell, and people don't answer, because they are seeing an unidentified number. It's why I hate to do phone banking in the modern era (even though I will do it, but only in the immediate pre-election days). In my opinion, phone banking would be a lot more successful if the campaigns provided the phones, with caller ID clearly stating Hillary Clinton Campaign HQ, or some such. Maybe I'm wrong, and then people really wouldn't pick up. But my guess is that more supporters (which is who you are trying to reach for GOTV, not just random people) would indeed answer.

I went once to a group advising Dems about vote rigging in one state, and over 4 hours had exactly 2 people pick up. Same issue - they handed out throwaway cells for those of us who didn't want to use our own phones.

I've never participated in a phone bank since.

Another issue is that they tell you often not to leave a message. In 2012, when we were doing the last-minute voter calls to remind people when and where to vote (and hopefully asking them what time they planned to vote, so they could be checked back and then checked off lists on election day), we were told not to leave a message.

After forty-eleven non-answers, my husband and I looked at each other and started leaving messages. And you know what? On election day morning my husband received a call from a guy in Milwaukee saying, "Did you call me, because I DON'T know where my polling place is and I want to vote." My husband ran down to his computer and found the guy's polling place. If he hadn't left a message, this fellow would probably not have had the resources to find out where to vote, and might not have voted.

If someone I don't know wants to reach me, they can leave a message and I will get back to them asap after screening it.

Twice they were pollsters once from Rutgers for a poll in the primary and one that seemed like internal for the Illinois sentate race . Also had people call me to confirm I was volunteering