Is it OK to lie to political pollsters?
Twice this morning I have gotten texts from different political polling organizations. I don’t know if they are “real” neutral pollsters (like Gallup) or if they are working for one of the presidential campaigns or support organizations.
Both asked – in different ways – if I support Harris or Trump.
Note: I deleted both messages without answering.
My question: what are the ethics of ramifications about lying?
If I say “I’m supporting Trump” (which is not true), the polling organization will count me as pro-Trump, which may translate to increased confidence for the Trumpies. Then, they’ll be surprised (Shocked!) when people don’t vote for the candidate they say they would
(And then Trumpies will try to steal the election again).
Is it better off telling pollsters the truth, or intentionally misleading them?
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7 Answers
It doesn’t really matter. All those poll questions, unless from neutral pollsters, are really come-ons. If you say you’ll vote for their candidate, they’ll ask you next for a donation. I delete and report junk for all of those; when I want to donate, I do it myself online.
It’s OK to lie to random unsolicited texting people/bots/etc.
In what way it might actually be helpful to lie, tends to be unclear. It can be difficult to know what effect our responses may actually have.
I fairly often lie to the non-political ones, to spread disinformation into their insidious data-collection efforts, as well as to waste their time and/or annoy them.
The political ones that I get lately tend to be from environmental groups, human rights groups, progressives, and Democrats. I don’t lie to those, but I tend to unsubscribe when they start just asking for money, or when they get annoying.
Polling companies know this happens and try to account for it.
They have a lot of historical data to go on, and can analyse discrepancies and make adjustments to weighting.
They might infer that certain demographics are less honest, or more shy about their voting intention, and then adjust their data accordingly.
You’re afraid that your response to the pollsters may impact the poll in some unforeseen way. I am afraid to reply to your question in case I influence your response in some unforeseen way. I’m sorry, but the future of Western civilisation rests on your shoulders alone. Good luck!
The polls could be from a business just trying to make money. They sell the Trump voters information to Trump organizations to try and get money from you. Same with Harris voters.
Lie if you like, tell the truth if you like. They are reaching out to you, you are not reaching out to them. I wouldn’t give anyone that anonymously reached out to me any personal information other than what you could gather by looking at me….W, M, 55–65. So they are taking their chances. Which is why so many polls are total crap.
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