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July 22, 2008
What The Cell's Going On?
As sometime pollsters and public opinion researchers, we have often wondered how the steady migration of the American public away from landline phone use might skew polling -- particularly political polls-- given that nearly all polls sample landline users only.
The ever-reliable Pew Center is out with a new study on the subject, and it's worth perusing. A new survey of about 2,000 American adults includes a significant (about 500) number of interviews of cell users (on their cell phones.)
The results are interesting. The cell group was more likely to support Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats in the upcoming November election, though less likely to actually vote.
In our judgment, as American society continues to evolve technologically, the inclusion of mobile phone users and online interviews will be key to the continued relevance of public opinion research, though there are significant challenges to including them in a truly representative way.
We are glad Pew is studying the issue.
Posted by houtopia at July 22, 2008 10:47 PM