Polls are a marketable SERVICE business. In the poll business, you win by two factors: Speed; Reliability.
Speed requires being able to respond to the customer's specific data needs - which requires methods only those who know the business are privy to: Target Profiling. (You aren't naive enough to believe these guys just open up the phone book and start calling numbers at random, are you?)
The databases used and analyzed allow the polling companies to speed the process of gathering responses QUICKLY and ECONOMICALLY - and based upon the poll customer, and the EXPECTATIONS of the paying customer, most of the more advanced systems can generate the "appropriate" sample base in an instant. Data elements that are taken into consideration include such things as: Income, age, number of children, prior responses to polls, home address, employer, political affiliation, magazine subscriptions, credit profile, insurance status, home ownership, etc., etc., etc. This data, and the sources of it are, of course, intellectual property and deeply protected as trade secrets.
Don't be surprised by polls; consider only their source and the possible motivations of those asking the pollsters to conduct the poll.
Mr. K.
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