Would you lie on a poll?

[Plane]

http://imgs.xkcd.com/





    Do people ever exaggerate their statements on a poll to drag the numbers their way?

[Xavier_Onassis]

 I find it amusing to claim that I have an income of ten times the true amount on polls, since I really do not want to reveal that much about myself. That makes me a more valuable customer, and I get more coupons and offers for neat stuff. It is really none of their business what my income is, after all.

One polling survey awards points, which can be turned into cash, for taking the survey. If I tell them my real age, they have no surveys for me. So I tell them I am 37, and I am always entered into the survey and get the points. It isn't illegal to lie about your or  income on a poll, so I would say do it when it is to your advantage to do so.

[Plane]

I have discussed this before with someone elese who does the very same thing.

I wonder how much the estimates these companys make about their customers are fiction based via scientific polling.

I blame the science of polls for the predicament we have had recently of a government split very evenly between right and left , with one very close election after another our government is caught in a frustrating dither.

Politicians willing to base their actions , opinions, statements even the direction of their souls on polls have an advantage on anyone who has ain internal compass, now polls are better and the advantage is insurmountable.

[Xavier_Onassis]

People honestly tell pollsters that the government is incompetent, they know that useful things cannot be done due to a lack of funds, but they are against taxes. They love benefits, but hate paying for them. Some simply hate benefits that go to others that they perceive as different from themselves, rather than benefits for themselves. They oppose welfare for single mothers, but they want a raise in their Social Security, for example. They oppose paying for public education, but complain that the children cannot read, but will not vote taxes to pay for reading teachers.

I don't lie on political polls.

[Plane]

  Why don't you?

  Are political polls a diffrent class of poll?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Because I have no motive to do so, of course.

Lying on a consumer poll is useful because they will accept me to take the poll, and awarded points, which can be exchanged for money. If I say I am retired, they will not accept me in the poll, and I will not get points or get paid.

No one pays anyone for taking a political poll.

If asked for my favorite Republican candidate, I might say Bachmann, because she is the most likely to lose. But I have not been asked, and probably will not be, because I am a democrat in most databases.

I don't consider it immoral to lie in a poll.

[Plane]

   I am completely undecided about the morality of lying to a poll.

    As far as polls are honest attempts to avoid waste and give the people what they really want no more or less Polls are a good thing and honest accuracy twards them is a good thing.

     As far as polls serve as tools of power and aggrandisement I want also to know who is gathering the info and what it is being used for, in any case which makes the poll an instrument of evil giving the truth might be the wrong choice.

    Should Pols  be surprised by election results now and then?
     Hell yes , how can we have honest stealth?

[Xavier_Onassis]

If lying is always a sin, then it is sinful to tell the Ubergrupenfuhrer that there are Jews living in your garret.  I don't accept that.

I get these idiots who call and ask me if I am going to vote for X for mayor now that I know that he has been accused of some crime. But I do not know whether he is guilty. Then I have others who tell me that I must tell her that I am for candidate A or B in a 5 candidate race, because every poll says that A or B are the only favorites. I usually hang up without answering, but I have lied to them, just because they assume that I am going to go along with their unproven statements.

[Plane]

 

"...ask me if I am going to vote for X for mayor now that I know that he has been accused of..."

Oh yes, a "push poll" is definitely a dishonest animal.

    In the guise of questions , criticism is couched.

     I have only received that once, I told them a truth couched in terms they couldn't understand without further explanation. So I thereby turned the tables and "pushed" my own idea.

     I doubt that this made a difference, the pollster was reading a script that she couldn't change I am sure. Since the real point was the push, I doubt that any answers were even recorded.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Usually, they refuse to accept any answer than those on their questionnaire. I have had them tell me "There is no place for me to write that: you have to tell me yes or no."

But I didn't. I punched several buttons on the dial and hung up.