Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Oh Great...More Bad Polls...

Jason Cherniak tells about his adventures with a new Liberal poll tonight. Well, I just got a call from "Solis 1" myself tonight and it was the same script:

"Liberal delegate meetings are this weekend. Which candidate will you vote for?
Bob Rae, press 1
Scott Brison, press 2
Michael Ignatieff, press 3
Stephane Dion, press 4
Other or undecided, press 5"

Jason said he pressed 4 and got no response. Someone I signed up got it last night and pressed 5 and got no response. For fun, I decided to press 1 for Bob Rae when they called me tonight and I got a reply "thank you for your vote".

So this is an open call for two things:

1. Has anyone ever heard of the "Solis 1" polling company. A few quick google searches on variations of this yielded nothing.

2. Who else has gotten calls? And, if you have, did you get a response after you pressed for your candidate? Inquiring minds want to know.

(Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting Bob Rae is behind this poll since it makes no sense to me why you wouldn't just give everyone the "thank you" message regardless of who they vote for. Brison seems to be the only candidate who would benefit from that grouping of candidates and, even then, my hunch is this is just a shitty polling company rather than a campaign poll.)

posted by calgarygrit at 10:18 PM

26 Comments:

  • Just got the same call.

    Pressed "5" and got dead air.

    By Blogger Down & Out in L A, at 10:33 PM  

  • Ye gads! Maybe it's Robbin's Research!!!

    By Blogger Jason Cherniak, at 10:58 PM  

  • I got it yesterday and today. Pressed 3 for Iggy, got nothin'.

    By Blogger Bruce Lyth, at 11:02 PM  

  • I'm thinking someone is trying to check on first ballot support, or perhaps what to do the estimate delegate support.

    Poorly timed .......

    Try again next week using confirmed delegates for more accurate data.

    By Blogger Down & Out in L A, at 11:09 PM  

  • Is it a 514 number? Or another Quebec area code?

    Someone has suggested it's a phone canvas to identify support for the GOTV effort this weekend. That sounds more likely than a poll.

    It'd be interesting to know who's spending money on this little toy. I doubt these things come cheap.

    By Blogger Winnipeg Liberal, at 11:12 PM  

  • win lib; It had a local number on the one I got but it didn't pick up when I called back.

    Yeah, thinking it over, the logical conclusion is that this is a campaign trying to gage support. Not sure what the use is unless it's set up to record your phone number if you vote for the candidate paying for it. Otherwise, I can't see any practical use to it.

    By Blogger calgarygrit, at 11:17 PM  

  • And further to that, since I decided to vote for Rae for the heck of it, if I get a call from the Bob team in the next few days, that'd be a pretty clear sign they're behind it.

    By Blogger calgarygrit, at 11:18 PM  

  • I got the call last night.
    pressed "3" for Iggy and nothing.
    Very strange.

    By Blogger east-of-somewhere, at 11:24 PM  

  • At least Dion's people had the good manners to call me personally and were very polite when I said I was supporting someone else.

    Given that Rae's team used call centres to recruit Liberals and demon diallers for the Form 6 drive, I'd say the odds are good that this is from Team Rae. As someone mentioned at Cherniak's, it gives you a good sense of how many volunteers they've got.

    By Blogger Winnipeg Liberal, at 11:24 PM  

  • Winnipeg Liberal,

    A autobot calling for Rae is sure better than getting Ajay Chopra on the phone for 30 minutes and having to listin to his ADD afflicted rants about how great Bob Rae, Terry Duguid and Martin Cauchon are.

    By Blogger Manitoba Liberal, at 11:35 PM  

  • I pressed 2 for Scott Brison and also got dead air so I doubt that its his team that's behind it.

    By Blogger Sunshine, at 11:37 PM  

  • I had the same call and after I pressed my choice it ended just as abruptly.

    By Blogger Lolly, at 11:42 PM  

  • Manitoba Liberal,

    Ha, Ajay Chopra. Haven't seen or heard from that guy in years. Sounds like I'm the better for it.

    By Blogger Winnipeg Liberal, at 12:02 AM  

  • We got the call. Dead air after hitting 3 for Iggy.

    This is not a real poll obviously. One of the very basic of basics of polling is to rotate the questions/order. It seems like everyone reporting here got the same order of candidates.

    And Kennedy notably missing. Who would be competing for the left left vote the most out of Rae and Kennedy?

    I think the reason for this - just a guess - is probably that such technology is new to campaigns and the Rae team is maybe nervous about the perception of them using an automated machine to gauge support.

    Demon dialers are pretty standard fare now, even in Canada, but the call to reach out and gauge support is still pretty much wholly the domain of individual calling.

    By Blogger Cerberus, at 12:19 AM  

  • My dad got it this afternoon, pressed 4 and got nothing. He then hung up and phoned me demanding to know if I knew what was going on with "the crazy computer phoning to do a strange poll" (his words not mine). If I get it I'm pushing 1 just to see what happens.

    By Blogger A View From The Left, at 12:23 AM  

  • Yep, I got the same call at my home number last night.

    By Blogger Braeden Caley, at 1:37 AM  

  • I pressed 3 for iggy and got a thank you!

    By Blogger YYC Liberal, at 2:26 AM  

  • "Soilin One" is the name of a hair straightener. :)

    By Blogger Toronto Tory, at 10:23 AM  

  • Guys,

    Methinks this may be the work of certain agent provocatuers, meant to divide you and cause infighting rather than concentrate on the real enemy.

    Now who would benefit most from such in-fighting? Who could quickly arrange such a poll?

    Don;t fall into the trap, that just what the Cons want.

    By Blogger Mike, at 11:00 AM  

  • Bahahaha. Mike, that's a great theory but really, if the Tories wanted to use their war chest to hijack the Liberal leadership convention, don't you think they could manage something a little more disruptive than a buggy polling autodialer?

    By Blogger Optimus, at 11:10 AM  

  • As long as Joe Volpe stays in the race the Conservatives don't need an agent provacateur

    By Blogger Greg Staples, at 12:36 PM  

  • As long as Joe Volpe stays in the race the Conservatives don't need an agent provacateur

    By Blogger Greg Staples, at 12:36 PM  

  • solace 1 is a deamon-dial company, polling company.

    they use VIOP, or at least did in the Federal Election, and were therefore WAY cheaper than standard dialiers.

    By Blogger Enough is Enough, at 2:37 PM  

  • solace 1 is a deamon-dial company, polling company.

    they use VIOP, or at least did in the Federal Election, and were therefore WAY cheaper than standard dialiers.

    By Blogger Enough is Enough, at 2:37 PM  

  • Got the call last night. Hung up when they only named 4 candidates.

    And for the record I like A.J. I had him going door to door in Winnipeg Centre in 1999. guy is an animal at the door.

    By Blogger Don, at 6:27 PM  

  • I got it... pressed "5" and got a thank you..

    By Blogger Liberalenterprise, at 6:31 PM  

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