Weird Polling happening in IOWA - I smell something

[Doodler71]

Hi, I live in Iowa. Last week I received a robo-call poll. The auto call asked me to select 1 if I was a registered voter or 2 if I was not. I selected #1. It then asked if I was going to vote for 1 Barack Obama or 2 Mitt Romney. I selected #1. It then repeated the question. I then pushed #1 again. It again repeated the question and for a third time I selected #1. It then said, "We are sorry that you are having difficulty" and the call ended.

This morning I received the same robo call with identical results. I even used a different phone.

The number came across my caller id as 314-649-8187

Just an FYI.

Seems very odd.

[rfranklin]

1. This is their version of get out the vote...you should have punched in 2

You probably would have gotten an inspiring message about how Obama is a mooslim and a kommie.

[theinquisitivechad]

2. Wow. Wow. Thanks for sharing.

If this is what all the Romney-friendly polls are based on, we may be even more swindled for good poll publicity than we've realized.

Excellent catch and thank you for posting. Shameful that they have to resort to such tactics.

[Doodler71]

9. It is happening in Colorado as well

My mom said she has been receiving similar calls in Colorado.

I don't know about other states, but it is definitely happening here in Iowa.

I think we should let people know that some of these so called poll bumps for Romney might be bogus.

[kelliekat44]

20. What are the email addresses for the MSNBC, CNN, FOX talking heads?

I am willing to send each of them a copy of the OP here and let them investigate and report on it.
Might even be a good idea to get this information to Bill Clinton so that he can talk about it as he hits the campaign trail. In fact, the Obama campaign should be talking about this right now even in an ad.

[AlinPA]

24. Fox investigate this? Really? You are joking, right?

[freshwest]

31. Ah well. Hope springs eternal, ya know. Or he wants it on the record that they'll run.

[SugarShack]

27. It happened to me in a "robo" poll in Florida as well.

I learned it was a Mike Huckabee poll!

[RagAss]

3. It could have been Kramer....

He got bored doing Movie Phone.

[Tennessee Gal]

4. Did you call the number? nt

[LadyHawkAZ]

5. Number tracks to American Future Fund

Neocon group.

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/american-future-fund/

Interesting stuff on Google about these folks.

[Doodler71]

10. Yep, just tracked that down.

Facinating article in Salon

http://www.salon.com/topic/american_future_fund/

[regnaD kciN]

32. They're not listed in that article...

[LadyHawkAZ]

36. You have to click a "continue reading" button toward the bottom

right under the Crossroads bit.

[SeattleVet]

34. And another good article about these scumbags:

http://iowaindependent.com/4203/secrets-of-the-american-future-fund

from 2 years ago. Republi-con PAC doing 'biased 'survey' that leads to asking for donations.

Plug the number into 800notes.com for some other interesting comments about the tactics.

[Generic Other]

35. Big old Romney endorsement on front page too

making pro-romney ads here.

http://americanfuturefund.com/

[Fridays Child]

6. Googled the number: American Future Fund. See Link.

http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=American%20Future%20Fund

[Doodler71]

12. I guess my insticts were right. (nt)

[0rganism]

7. Not to worry, they're just testing the new voting machine technology

[Tigress DEM]

18. nt

JUST

[liberalmuse]

8. Interesting.

"Does. Not. Compute." Sounds about on par with Republican "reality".

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. I have a friend who always tells them she's voting republican

and she has a completely different polling experience than anyone else getting the same calls.

They never call me or I'd do the same thing.

[Curmudgeoness]

13. That's odd.

We are having a discussion in another thread about American Future Fund polls.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021533517#post30

Many people have been polled lately, many also today, and we all got through to the end of the call where they thanked us.

Maybe they only want a set number of #1, Obama answers.

[Frustratedlady]

14. It's from Mehlville, MO.

I've been getting the same caller and finally answered. When they got to "Do you think the economy is improving....." I answered it was improving and they hung up without a word. Wrong answer, I guess. Anyway, Mehlville, MO was on the caller ID.

[freshwest]

15. BEWARE! I believe they just put you on a list of people to be challenged.

They will attempt to mess with your vote. They will pass that list onto to their operatives who will come to your house and challenge you, or challenge you at the polling place, or the registrar's office. You may find that you will have to make a provisional ballot or your ballot may be rejected. No kidding.

[Frustratedlady]

26. I tricked them! I've already voted! eom

[freshwest]

30. Hehehe! We haven't gotten our mail in ballots, yet, though. I don't answer the phone, either...

When I used to do so, I interrogated whoever called me with all kinds of questions. Unless they said they were Democrats, I told 'em, it's NYOB...

[Delmette]

16. That sounds familar.

About a year ago I sent an email to Dennis Rehberg R, MT. I was imedatelly put on his list to receive emails from him and surveys. I responded to the surveys exactly as I felt toward the subject matter. I know my opinions did not jive with what Rehberg wanted to hear. Eventually when I submitted my survey, the response was not "Thank You". The response was your email address is not valid, please try again.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Here

Area Code 314 Detail
Area code 314 serves the city of St. Louis, Missouri, and most suburbs in St. Louis County. Area code 636 acts as an envelope around the 314 coverage area. Area code 314 was split in 1996 to create area code 573, and was split again when the suburbs were assigned area code 636.

[cleduc]

19. Sounds like that Robocall will work

about as well as Romney's policies ..

[AverageJoe90]

21. It could be nothing, TBH.

Maybe it was just a technical problem.

However, though, I am very, very open to the possibility of yet another GOP dirty tricks tactic.

Thanks Doodler71. If this is a GOP dirty trick, then we may have underestimated the amount of poll screwiness this year.

[Honeycombe8]

22. Uh-Oh. I smell something fishy. But a poll identifies itself, doesn't it? Did the caller

identify the polling outfit?

It could be that it was just trying to identify Romney people to hit on for volunteer efforts or donations.

[GeorgeGist]

23. I'd say it was intended for Gullible voters.

[forestpath]

25. I got the exact same kind of call and I live in VA.

I don't know who the caller was - I wasn't paying attention when I answered the phone and it was my second phone line which doesn't have caller ID. But as soon as the recording started, I could tell just by the tone that it was a pro-Romney poll (am I the only one who can instantly pick up on that?), and then when it wouldn't let me proceed as soon as I'd pressed the button confirming that I was voting for President Obama (after trying twice), I just listened to see what would happen. After a few seconds, the line was disconnected.

I live in a swing state (VA) so I've gotten polled several times but that is the only one I've gotten like that. I'm still pissed about it even though it happened weeks ago, so as soon as I read the OP I had to register and chime in.

Oh, and I got a call from the Republican Party of VA today - a young-sounding guy who as soon as I answered the phone said "Can we count on you to vote for Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and (whoever the repug running for congress in my district is, whoever it is has gotten NO publicity here so I don't even know the name)?" I said, "They can all go fuck themselves."

[bluestate10]

33. "I said, "They can all go fuck themselves." "

You are generous. What I would have told that fuck wouldn't be printable in any forum.

[mucifer]

28. Homer Simpson had the same problem:

[SheilaT]

29. About five years ago I got a robo polling call at my work.

Actually, I got the same call three separate times. I believe it was polling about abortion, and I pushed the button for choice, and it flipped my response to the anti-choice one. Needless to say, I was totally enraged. Same thing on the second call. The third time I hung up on it.

Some of these robo-call polling things are probably designed to simply give whatever response they were hired to get -- people preferring the anti-choice position in one case, pushing up the numbers for Romney in another.

Which is why some polls can be totally ignored.

[Skip Intro]

37. Are you using a cell phone? Could be a setting.

There is something called a DTMF tone setting on most cell phones. That turns on/off your phone's ability to make the "beep" sounds the other caller is waiting to hear.

I sell cell phones, and what you describe is a problem I see on a more-than-rare occasion. The culprit is usually the DTMF setting.

[CrispyQ]

38. I'm in Colorado.

I get calls that go like this:

Q: Do you favor Obama or Romney? Press 1 for O, 2 for R.

I press 1.

Q: Are you very likely to vote for O, press 1, somewhat likely to vote for O, press 2, or not likely at all to vote for O, press 3.

I press 1, wondering why they even ask me if I'm not going to vote for O since I just indicate I was going to.

Q: Are you very likely to vote for R, press 1 or somewhat likely to vote for R, press 2.

At which point I say "Fuck you" to the automated voice & hang up.

I've gotten this call three times.