With only two months to go before the U.S. national elections, polling organizations are keeping their employees busy dialing phones -- or not, perhaps. You see, most pollsters use automatic dialing systems to reach interviewees. What does this have to do with polling cell phone users? A lot, actually.
Federal Communications Commission rules prohibit automatic dialers from calling mobile phones and it is apparently more expensive to hand dial and interview than to have a machine dial. Bottom line: calling cell phones costs more, so some polling organizations do not do it.
So, which of the major pollsters do call cell phones? Gallup, the oldest and most prestigious polling organization does. Pew, ABC/Washington Post, CBS/New York Times, NBC/Wall Street Journal, Quinnipiac, Marist and AP-Gfk reportedly do, too.
While I have not been able to determine if Ipsos and Harris call cell phone users for their political polling, I'd venture to guess they do, as they seem to be very technologically adept. For example, Ipsos defines 'mobile research' as one of its key priorities and Harris actually has its own smartphone app, Harris Mobile.
And which of the top pollsters don't dial mobile phones? Rasmussen and IBOPE Zogby International.
Carloz
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Pollsters Go Mobile, Carl Bialik, December 2, 2011
Survey Says: Cellphones Annoy Pollsters, Carl Bialik, Dec 3, 2011
Cell Phone Addiction Threatens Polling Industry, Steven Shepard, June 28, 2012
Pollsters Struggle to Pin Down the Right (Cell) Number, John Harwood, August 5, 2012
The future of political polling in the age of social media, Emily Kaiser, August 6, 2012
