Poll resistance

Polls Face Growing Resistance, But Still Representative, or so the Pew Center folks claim. But how true is that when you consider their own findings?

Across five days of interviewing, surveys today are able to make some kind of contact with the vast majority of households (76%), and there is no decline in this contact rate over the past seven years. But because of busy schedules, skepticism and outright refusals, interviews were completed in just 38% of households that were reached using standard polling procedures.

Look at the chart to the right in the article. The Response rate is down from 36% to 27%, the cooperation rate is down from 58% to 38% DESPITE a contact rate of 76%.

It took a lot to get a contact rate that high.

In addition, we compared the opinions of people who were especially difficult to interview (494 respondents) with those who were more easily available and who readily cooperated. "Hardest to reach" cases had refused the interview at least twice before complying and/or required 21 or more calls to complete.

The hardest to reach? (under additional findings and analysis) Whites - 74%.