Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
When That Poll-taker Calls, Answer!
In the past week, I have taken at least three political polls; two online, and one over the phone. Seeing as the upcoming midterm elections are extremely important to us, shouldn’t our opinions get registered? But it seems like a large number of my Ricochet family members have a policy of not answering polls. I would like to recommend that you change your policy. How else are we going to get on the scoreboard, if our fellows don’t know that there are a large number of conservatives out there, who register their opinion?
In my retirement, I decided to sign up with a couple of websites that specialize in market research (I’ve always been a sucker for market research); they pay for your time, albeit a low amount, but it’s more than nothing. I just last week participated in an online focus group, for which I stand to be paid $175. Anyway, I ended up on YouGov’s panel, and they now send me regular surveys to fill out. I get to state my political preferences directly, and I’m happy to be that kind of statistic. I think that refusing to answer poll-takers makes it look like we aren’t there, and we need to make our opinions known. I had a delightful half-hour conversation with a young Hispanic lady last week, and I got to register my preferences for our local candidates. I even helped her with some name pronunciations; I think I made her day by being willing to talk to her, instead of just not answering.
Another benefit of taking the online surveys is I get to evaluate the political ads of the Leftist candidates. I learned that our state congresspersons from the Democrat side are lying with every statement they make about the Republican candidates. I never would have seen those ads, if I hadn’t been doing those surveys. I am pleased to get my preferences out there, perhaps to encourage others to vote, who might have been discouraged by the poll results. We all know that a lot of political polls skew Democrat, but can’t we change that by not hanging up on the poll-takers? Give it some thought, and register your opinions when the poll-takers call. If nothing else, you can make them mad when you support Donald Trump!
Published in Elections
As has been previously mentioned, so many people these days have phone numbers totally unrelated to their actual locations, seems to me the amount of Garbage In must be increasing. Which means they’re also getting more Garbage Out.
You like Sue?
Every Sue I’ve known has been a snake.
Why on earth do you give a crap what Peter Robinson named his son?
Part of the discussion here involves people giving their children names that might cause them difficulties in life.
If Mrs Robinson is from Cuba, why not name him Fidel? I think I know why. But actually, similar reasons apply to not using the name Pedro, at least in the US.
Are their daughters, if they have any, named Bertha or Hortense? Doubtful. But why not? Both were perfectly acceptable names… 100 years ago, or something.
Maybe, but you, weirdly, have ridden this hobbyhorse multiple times in other threads over the past few years when it was not part of the broader discussion.
Because there is a commie dictator named Pedro somewhere? (Does this guy count?) It’s pretty obvious that Peter and his wife decided to name one of their sons after his father with a nod to his mother’s heritage thrown in. I have always thought it was a lovely, and profoundly American, combination.
This is a different point which would be relevant if you were objecting to Peter naming his kid the dude equivalent of Hortense. Rutherford, maybe?
Even if his or her grandmother, aunt, great-grandmother, great-aunt, etc, as far back as you want to go, was named Hortense or Bertha, it would still be a bad idea to name a daughter TODAY Hortense or Bertha.
And that’s the same point for all of it, really.
We called cousin Rutherford “Bubba.” It started with one of his sisters who couldn’t say, “Brother.” He was Rutherford, III or IV, I believe.
Agreed.
If Pedro is already an adaptation of Peter, why not just call him Peter?
Why not name him Richard and call him Dick?
Did your #13 go right out of your head after you wrote it?
Like it or lump it, “Pedro” is an unusual name in the US, these days.
It isn’t that unusual. You are unusual. Change yourself.
#400 is pretty far down the list.
Yeah, but you’re below 8,000,000,000 on the list.
Who are you, and what have you done with the Arahant that wrote #13?
Do you see where I specified a number, a cutoff? You’re the one who says the 399th most popular name is unusual and unacceptable. Is your name at #398? Is that why you want that cutoff? Personally, I don’t find Pedro to be unusual, and I find your insistence that it is to be lowbrow at best, and probably disqualifying for public office.
Let me simplify what I said in #13 for you:
I haven’t known a Pedro since Elementary School. Call it 55 years.
It’s a more common name than Jerald or Stuart, both of which I consider common enough. Because you don’t know any doesn’t mean they aren’t out there, lurking in the shadows, ready to spring on you and slit your throat when you go out since you have dissed them so badly.
“Drastically” being an understatement.
If only there were a Spanish version of the name Randy or Randell, I’d change my screen name to it for a week or so, just for fun.
Exactly. Biden’s extreme unpopularity could be partially because the left doesn’t think he’s doing enough. The “why” is either never asked, or the results are not published if it is . . .
I will answer polls while my husband won’t. I like to listen to see if it is a push or pull poll then I look for media reporting on polls. One Repub trick is to call folks registered as Repubs and ask us questions about things they know we will like or dislike then ask for “support” to help them get what we like or to fight what we don’t like.
I do not trust any poll on guns. They are designed to put ideas in the heads of the naive.
We’ll hear about the poll question asking if the country is on the right or wrong track. That is so unspecific it is just meaningless.
And bad databases have a use too. Say you have a recall and need to verify if a candidate signatures to have the recall is correct. Go against a database with lots of bad data and you can eliminate many of the people that signed up so they can not be on the ballad.
Try Lobo.
Are you using some form of speech to text?
How about El Rando? Works on multiple levels.
not sure what is up. auto correct is now messing up a bunch today. Seems to be reaching back into the message a few sentences.
You got it, Carlotta. I realized my profile was out of date, I hadn’t updated it to show my new city and state.