Major pollsters passing on fake news by relying on land lines

By Judi McLeod —— Bio and Archives August 2, 2017

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The truth about Rasmussen and other pollsters should be shouted from the rooftops. While most people use cell phones, pollsters call land lines for their polls. As Canada Free Press reader Paul Bush of Illinois so aptly puts it: "By their own admission they call LAND LINES!"

"Most US homes no longer use landline phone service and instead rely on cellphones to stay connected. (The Verge, May 4, 2017) "The finding was released today by the US Health Department, which said that 50.8 percent of American households were now wireless only when it came to phone service.

"Of the remaining chunk of households, 39.4 percent had both a wireless phone and a landline. Only 6.5 percent of homes are landline only, while 3.2 percent remain phone-free. "Americans started switching when smartphones became popular. "The figures, based on a telephone poll of nearly 20,000 households, show just how quickly Americans have abandoned landlines. Just 10 years ago, only about 15 percent of households were wireless only. But the number has risen sharply as smartphones became more prominent, and it looks like the wireless-only homes are bound to keep growing "The government's survey found that more than 70 percent of adults between 25 and 34 were wireless only. Adults with children were actually more likely to be wireless only than a household of multiple related adults without children.

"That said, income also plays a role here. The survey found that adults near or below the poverty line were much more likely to be wireless only than adults who weren't considered to be poor."

So why should the masses take to heart the following?:

"The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 39% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump's job performance. Sixty-one percent (61%) disapprove. "The latest figures for Trump include 26% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 49% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -23."

Notice how Rasmussen, who admit they call land lines, throws in melodrama for good measure:

"The latest findings mark the first time Trump's overall approval rating has slipped below 40% in Rasmussen Reports tracking."

And according to Rasmussen "most voters" say "No" to border walls."

Daily tracking results are collected via telephone surveys of 500 likely voters per night and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. To reach those who have abandoned traditional landline telephones, Rasmussen Reports uses an online survey tool to interview randomly selected participants from a demographically diverse panel. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 1,500 Likely Voters is +/- 2.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Results are also compiled on a full-week basis and crosstabs for full-week results are available for Platinum Members. Is this why Rasmussen and other pollsters had Hillary Clinton as a shoe-in for the 2016 presidential race? They depended largely on land lines, when most people never called were doing their own thing and ignoring polls with their cell phones in their pockets or handbags. Fake news does not belong specifically to the mainstream media, it thrives among latter day pollsters too.