If there were 16.5 trillion polls conducted during the election cycle, how come I was never called? I wondered if I was on some poll-taking blacklist. I mean, the odds alone would say that I would be called now and then, right?
Well today I finally got called for a poll -- on healthcare -- and I failed after the first question: "Are you the male head of the household?"
I really didn't know what to say. I gave the honest answer: "No, there is no head of this household." At that point, they didn't want to hear any more from me.
The poll was being conducted by GFK Research. I had never heard of them, so I asked what "GFK" stood for -- in the hopes of gleaning some information about this poll. The questioner said that it didn't stand for anything.
Then I asked if the questioner could tell me who was funding the poll -- again, I was rebuffed. The questioner said that giving that information might unduly influence my response. I can understand that. So yes, go ahead and ask me your questions, I said.
That's when she asked me if I was the male head of the household. Hmmm. Interesting question. On the surface, it was such a benign question. It was not meant to be a toughie. Yet, I could not say yes. I am male, but if my husband-if-we-were-allowed-to-marry heard me say that I was the "head", he would lose his and therefore I would lose mine. We have worked hard to make an equal household. For the last 28 years, we have faced the daily struggle of "who's the boss" and I think we do a pretty good job of maintaining an equal balance.
He does the laundry, I cook; I make more of the money, he pays the bills; whoever gets to the car first drives. His name is above mine on some checking accounts, mine above his on others. Our mortgage has him first; our deed has me first.
We are not radicals, we are homebodies. I think we are quite typical of a lot of folks and our opinions, intelligently formed but not outspokenly judgmental, would be a good reflection of the opinions of a sizable number of people. We'd be perfect poll-people, in other words.
So why would my response end the poll? Just because our household doesn't meet their expectations of what makes a household, our opinion doesn't even count?
Or maybe the polltaker sensed that I would be a difficult subject, and therefore not worth the time? Either way, it makes me doubt the reliability of polls (not that I hadn't already doubted polls).
Are headless households really that unusual??