Cell phones and public opinion polls

Since pollsters cannot call cell phones, there has been considerable concern that the growing number of people who use cell phones exclusively will end up leading to biased results (i.e. that because a significant part of the population cannot be reached, pollsters cannot survey a true random sample). Two new studies which look at this question have been released. Mystery Pollster has the details. Bottom line: the current effect on results appears to be minimal to nonexistent.

Though I generally confine myself to Minnesota issues, I thought this might be of interest given the release of the most recent Star-Tribune poll.

posted by DK @ 9:53 AM permalink