Polling is NOT an exact science

While not a huge problem now, the growing number of people who have ditched their landline and are now only using their cellphone as their primary telephone won’t be included in opinion polls. Polling companies also have a hard time polling those who live in group homes, such as the elderly and the sick.

Pollsters can’t connect with cell phone society

As marketing surveys and polls for the 2004 election ring phones across the nation, one of the hottest topics among pollsters is their inability to reach cellular phone customers who are dropping home phone lines in favor of going entirely wireless.

“If enough people have no chance of being included, survey results will be invalid,” said the National Council on Public Polls, an association of polling organizations based at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Polling experts say the problem is minimal for now, but they differ on how serious it might become. Already hard to reach because they spend little time at home or are living in group quarters such as college dorms, members of the 18-to-24 set, and to a lesser extent the group up to age 30, are rapidly isolating themselves from wired communications.