Polling call

Posted at 9:19 PM on October 30, 2008 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Over the coming weekend, I'd appreciate if you'd report any polling calls you get.

I got one tonight that involved Sen. Norm Coleman, although I couldn't detect whether it was on behalf of Coleman or on behalf of his opponents.

"Do you agree or disagree with this tatement," the woman asked. "Norm Coleman could have done more to stop the flow of methamphetamine use in Minnesota."

"Oh great, a push poll," I figured.

She then asked which of two candidates I favored -- Coleman or Al Franken -- and seemed genuinely surprised when I mentioned a third was running.

She also asked whether I had a favorable or unfavorable view of Coleman, whether I accessed the Internet daily ("No," I said. I usually make up the answers to pollsters), and whether I ever watch political ads on the Internet.

That was one strange polling call. If you get any between now and Election Day on Tuesday, please describe it in the comments section below.

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Comments (13)

I received this call on Oct. 25. Having dinner with four or five couples the other night, just about all of us had received it.

Posted by V | October 31, 2008 12:11 AM

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I haven't had a pollster call me in 3 years, since I moved to Minnesota ... and got rid of my land line phone.

Posted by Elizabeth T | October 31, 2008 12:24 AM

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I got the same methamphetamine call. What a strange poll.

Posted by MR | October 31, 2008 8:04 AM

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Bob - So you're the one screwing up the polls with false answers!

Posted by Alison | October 31, 2008 8:07 AM

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I got that phone call also, when I said I was voting for Dean Barkley the pollster just moved on to the next question.
I find it strange because methamphetamine, or any drug laws for that matter, has not been a really big topic this year.

Posted by Brian Hanf | October 31, 2008 8:50 AM

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Same call last night in Moorhead. Same kind of perplexed reaction, but relieved the questions were so few. I think it was over in 40 seconds.

Posted by Jim Olson | October 31, 2008 8:56 AM

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//So you're the one screwing up the polls with false answers!

Confession: When I go to Web sites that require registration, I lie there, too.

Posted by Bob Collins | October 31, 2008 8:58 AM

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Why do even believe the polls if our responses are lies? most of mine are...

Posted by b | October 31, 2008 9:33 AM

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Got the same call on my cell phone--are they testing for ad topic possibilities? I wonder if there was some particular response combination that would have triggered a longer script.

Hmmm...what are the chances of us all getting this call if it was only a survey? Probably almost nil. So it must have been some sort of push poll.

Then again, maybe MPR sold all of our names to some political group?

Posted by danglivesinmpls | October 31, 2008 8:24 PM

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I got this one too a couple of nights ago too (after I'd hung up on them a few nights earlier) and thought it was really weird. I recall the ending being different though: When I responded that I was indeed on the internet many times during the day, I'm sure the next question was weather I had seen any ad ABOUT NORM on the internet. When I said no they ended the survey. (I'd wished I'd lied and said yes, but I'm not ever that quick.)

I was sort of expecting to read here that there was a an anti-Norm meth ad out there that had gone viral, but it sounds as if you are all as perplexed as I am.

By the way, is it just me, or have your phones been ringing continuously with political calls? This is the worst I recall. I even had an automated call from Rybak this afternoon. (Like he's going to be really influential here in St. Paul?) I can't wait for election day.

Posted by cindy | October 31, 2008 8:57 PM

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Got the same call tonight. They want folks to think Norm Coleman should have done more.

The clowns who paid for this poll are wrong.

The fact is Coleman has worked hard on fighting meth in Minnesota - he co-authored a bill to fight meth trafficking in 2006 and he coauthored the Combat Meth Act, which was signed into law as part of the Patriot Act. The legislation limited access to cold medicines containing psuedoephedrine - anybody try to buy cold medicine lately?

Talk to county sheriffs. The number of labs have gone down significantly.

This call is another pile of slime from Franken, the DFL and Chuck Schumer and the DNSC. They have no accomplishments so they throw more crap at the wall to see what sticks.

When I talked to a supervisor at Eastern Research to find out who paid for the call. The woman hung up.

Hiding behind a phone bank in Florida is no way to win an election.

Posted by jc in mpls | November 2, 2008 5:54 PM

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I got the same call last week.

I have been seeing banner ads on Yahoo! Mail for weeks, with the caption "Why didn't Norm Coleman do more to stop Meth in Minnesota?", complete with pictures of haggard junkies. It's there every time I log into my Yahoo account, am I the only one?

Posted by Mike R | November 3, 2008 10:05 AM

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I received the same call. Strange.

Posted by Paul | November 3, 2008 10:09 AM

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