Are White Republicans Pretending To Be Black When Polled By Companies Using IVR Systems?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

When looking at polls conducted by companies such as Gravis and Survey USA* who utilize Interactive Voice Response Systems the percentage of African Americans indicating they are voting for Romney is much higher than in polls using live callers. I have seen as much as forty percent African American support for Romney is some of these polls. In a Interactive Voice Response System there is no human interaction. The respondent is just pressing buttons to indicate his answers to queries from an automated questioner. A person would be much more comfortable lying in that situation.





* The only thing Survey USA and Gravis have in common is they both use IVR Systems but the latter polling firm is a joke. Oh, and Survey USA also includes cell phones.

[yardwork]

1. More likely those companies are just making up numbers.

They could be polling highly unrepresentative samples, but why go to all that trouble when the simplest and easiest thing to do is make up numbers.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. Survey USA Has Been Around For A Ling Time And Are A NCPP Member

http://www.ncpp.org/

They are legit. Think about it. A Rethug gets an automated call asking asking him questions about the upcoming election. What better way to make the president look bad than by indicating you are an African American supporting Romney.

Happens on CSpan all the time but with a twist. People will say they are a Democrat or Republican and then slam the party they said they are a member of. In their minds it makes the criticism more legitimate because it is ostensibly coming from one of their own.

[yardwork]

3. But would enough people do that to make a difference?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. It Could Just Be A Bad Poll Or A Small Subsample With A Large Margin Of Error

But my hypothesis seems plausible to me.

[unc70]

5. Maybe. Discussed often online

Happens in both sides, but I see it discussed almost exclusively by RW posters on general sites like wral.com.

In a state poll of 500 people, 20% minority would be about 100 samples. Ten jokers would represent 10% of minorities. Bit worse than that since these are usually landline only polls, and minorities are more likely to be cellphone only.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. What Do They Say At wral

That white voters are telling IVRS they are black and supporting Romney or that black voters are telling IVRS they are white and supporting Obama. The latter doesn't make sense because if you start randomly calling people you are going to reach more white people as there are more of them.

[unc70]

8. RW whites saying they have lied on polls

Wral hasn't lost its Jesse Helms legacy. I regularly see posts by this on the right claiming to have lied to pollsters, claiming to be black Dems for some Repub, or otherwise trying to screw up the polls.

These are the same people who posts about Dems all being on welfare and foodstps. BTW their latest talking point is free phones for those on food stamps, etc. There is such a program, was started under Bush.

They talk about those voting early as not working, lazy, etc. Really blatant racism.

[yardwork]

15. Good points.

wral.com.....

[LisaL]

11. And that would lead to some bizarre poll results.

I really don't think Romney is getting as much support from African-Americans as some of these polls show. White republicans pretending to be African-Americans when answering these polls seems like a logical explanation.

[tarheelsunc]

7. I imagine it happens a lot.

An atheist 18-24 year old black female who is a registered Democrat with low income who is voting for R$ really skews the numbers a lot.

[LisaL]

9. I was thinking the same thing.

Maybe they want to give an appearance of Romney "surging" among African-Americans.

[AspenRose]

10. The only time in their lives they would even attempt

to walk in a black person's shoes.

[boingboinh]

12. Its Possible...HOWEVER, it could be real Blacks who are going all Reverse Bradley Effect

And so are indicating they would vote for Romney out of "black guilt" but when it comes time to vote they vote Obama in secrecy.
We know the bradley effect exists among whites (data proved it in one house or was it senate election) and so maybe the reverse is possible too.

[unc70]

13. I don't think your guilt scenario exists

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. It Has Nothing To Do With The Bradley Effect

The Bradley Effect was a theory that stated that whites who were polled by live interviewers indicated they were going to vote for Bradley because they didn't want to be perceived as prejudiced and then went ahead and voted for his opponent. In a poll conducted by a Interactive Voice Response System the respondent is responding to a pre-recorded questionnaire and indicates his or her response by pressing buttons on their telephone.

[yardwork]

16. Why would anybody feel guilty for voting for Obama?

Why would a black person - or anybody else - feel guilty for voting for Obama? I'm genuinely curious to know.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. Guilty Schmilty,These People Are Pressing Buttons In Response To Questions From A Pre Recorded Voice

[ChiTownChavista]

19. Things are becoming clearer.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

22. I See Have A Stalker

Like I said, more work for me , less work for Chris Hansen.

[ChiTownChavista]

25. xD

Projection ain't a river in Egypt.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

26. Way To Mangle A Metaphor

But the busier you are mangling metaphors the less work for, errrrr, Chris Hansen.

[noiretextatique]

20. i am curious to know that also, but i know it is total bullshit

rw cretins constantly insult the intelligence of black voters. they claim we are "brainwashed" by the democratic party, which is *really* a racist party. they like to pretend the republican party of yore is the same party it was...likewise with the democratic party. now this ridiculous notion of a "bradley effect" because of "black guilt" total bullshit.

[noiretextatique]

18. total bullshit. black voters vote 90+% democratic

and 90+% of black voters will vote for Obama. tthere aren't enough black republicons get 40% of the black vote for the likes of rmoney. you can go peddle that "bradley effect" and "black guilt" crap elsewhere.

[LisaL]

21. Could some men also be pretending to be female?

To explain why all of the sudden Romney is supposedly doing better with women in some polls?
I think republicans are messing with us.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

23. With IVRS It's Impossible To Tell

.

[Drunken Irishman]

24. In many of these state polls, when dealing with demographics, there is a higher MOE...

And smaller numbers to work with, which means manipulation, intentionally or not, can skew the results.

[whistler162]

27. Nah probably.....

white female democrats pretending to be black male republicans who are pretending to be asian female democrats who pretend to be white male republicans!

[Maeve]

28. Possible--I admit to having lied on occassion to auto-polls

When you are in a swing state with a landline, you can get as many as 4 polls a day several days a week (I kid you not--it has happened) and sometimes the temptation to mess with the results is overwhelming.

With humans, I'm more likely to either answer correctly or say "Not again, sorry!" and hang up.