Creative Exit Polling
Exit Poll Question – Who Did You Vote For?
Pollster are just as active after the vote, as they are during the vote!
They always want to know the same thing — Who did you vote for? Whatever happened to the whole idea of who you voted for as being a personal thing. At one time it was a right to simply say “It’s none of your business who I voted for.” As a matter of fact, when I was growing up, I remember it was almost taboo to even ask someone who they voted for. It was like asking a woman her age. Some things were just better left unsaid, and unasked.
My oh my how the times have changed!
These days it seems everyone wants to know how you voted. The phone rings, the questions come pouring in, the people with clipboards seem to abound. At every corner, everyone wants to know where you placed the X on the ballot. Well, guess what, “It’s none of your business who I voted for.” It’s also my right, my democratic freedom right, to look you straight in the eye and say “I do not have to tell you how I voted.” But here’s another amazing aspect of the polling nation we find ourselves living in. If I tell a pollster I’m not going to tell them who I voted for, many times the next thing out of their mouth is…
“Oh, okay, I’ll put you down as an undecided then.”
No, I didn’t say I was undecided. I said it’s none of your business how I voted.
Vote Now – Pick Up Your Coffee or Donut Coupon
I’ve been joking throughout the day with some friends that the politicians are buying their vote by dangling treats in front of their face to vote. It seems many polling stations are handing out coffee coupons, donut coupons, or even crackers on the way out the door. Is it just me, or does anyone else see the craziness of this? Think about it for a moment here. It is a right and privilege to take part in the democratic process. As a matter of fact, it’s a Constitutional right for “We the people” to vote.
This being the case, why in the world are voters flocking to the polls today just to get their free handout?
I’ve actually heard people say the only reason they’re voting today is to get the coffee or donut or whatever other trinket they’re handing out at the voting booth. Have we turned into a bunch of lemmings reacting like Pavlov’s dog? Ring the bell, come for food, place your vote. If you stop and think about it, this should be an insult to our intelligence. Have we become a nation so easily bribed that we won’t vote unless we get something? Have we become a people so selfish that we won’t exercise our democratic freedom and right to vote unless the politicians give us food?
Hello? Is anyone hearing this?
Have we so soon forgotten the images of the Iraqi people struggling through war-torn streets to vote for the first time ever? Have we forgotten that all those people got was either a bullet in the head, or an ink-dipped finger? Have we forgotten the fact that both women and black people in the United States were at one time denied the right to vote? Have we forgotten that they fought for the right to vote? How in the world did we get to the place where the vote has been trivialized to dangling a trinket in our face just to get us to vote?
Is this what the founding fathers had in mind?
As I look at the words I’ve just written, I must admit this post certainly took a different direction than I originally intended. My original intent was to simply point out that the Exit Poll people have gotten very creative in gathering information. Today, instead of asking who you voted for as you leave the polling station, they say — Did you vote for Obama? — if so you get one kind of treat — Or; Did you vote for McCain? — if so you get another kind of treat — Then, before you know it, you’ve taken part in their little Exit Poll and been a very good little Pavlov dog.
If this doesn’t outrage you, then I don’t know what will.
Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus
You are so right. I remember asking my dad who he voted for and he put me right in my place. Nowadays kids are at school blabbing about who they support. You know darn well, they’re just parroting what their parents are saying.
And how come no one has ever polled me??