gonzai | Entries tagged with local politics

Over the last couple of days, I have continued to ponder the ( polling call )I received. And I'm getting more and more angry about it. The incomptetent pollster and lousy poll questions aren't what's bugging me; I'm perturbed about the religion question. Besides it not really belonging in such a poll, the whole thing about the ONLY possible answers being "Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, refused to answer" is galling me. There are plenty of answers other than those 3 that are not 'refusing to answer'. Even just an 'other' category would resolve the issue, but they wouldn't put one in there. And it makes me feel that this candidate, since he must have approved this poll, doesn't give a damn about anyone in the county who doesn't fit those 3 categories. Probably throwing out answers by anyone not in those 3 categories. And I wonder, if Baltimore County didn't have a significant Jewish population - which happens to include his opponent - would Jewish have been option? He's definitely convinced me to vote for his opponent, I just wonder if my irritation is irrational and if it isn't, if this poll/candidate should be called out on it.

And unleashes on a pollster. Yup, got called by a political pollster today who is probably quite sorry she got me. See, first off, she asked for the 'youngest member of the household.' That would be me, so I took the poll. At the end it turns out they were only looking for people under 40. Well, you didn't mention that. Tough tiddlywinks on you. Next, she had the microphone pretty much in her mouth and was p-p-p t-t-t in my ear. I explained to her the proper placement of her microphone. She didn't expect that. Then the questions all had answers of 'very positive', 'somewhat positive', 'somewhat negative' and 'very negative'. This earned her a lecture from me about how a properly conducted poll must have a 'null' option - neutral, no opinion or don't know. (Her bad luck, catching a pol-sci major who took a course in public opinion.) I repeated that tidbit several times. Then in sorting the demographics, she asked for religion: the options were 'Catholic', 'Protestant', 'Jewish' or 'refused'. Time for a lecture on how there are plenty of people out there who are NOT one of those 3 religions. And answering 'none' or 'Muslim' etc is not refusing to answer the question. Back to the null option - you need an 'other' category. She had to check with her supervisor, who was equally surprised, and suddenly a 'none' category appeared. Thus I sent the pollster off into the night, thoroughly flustered. I'm mean :)