Pollsters typically select 10 to 20 times as many phone numbers as the number of completed interviews they want, meaning the people who actually respond are a small, non-random slice that skews toward more women, higher education, and higher income, requiring weighting and adjustment.

factualpending

Speaker

Doug Rivers

Evidence Quote

little known fact is how many phone numbers are selected for a poll and it's typically 10 to 20 times as many phone numbers are selected as the number of interviews that you wish to do

Source

Doug Rivers on polling 7/21/2008EconTalk
Created: 6/15/2026, 9:28:54 AM

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