What concerns pollsters in regards to telephone polling?

a. Increasingly, Americans are not buying cellular phones.

b. The refusal rate for Buddhist Americans is disproportionately high.

c. Telephones are shared in households.

d. The refusal rate has increased sharply in recent decades. 

 

Answer: D. The refusal rate has increased sharply in recent decades. 

Step-by-step explanation

New technologies have made phone polling problematic, however. In the early 21st century, the number of Americans with landlines has decreased. Cell phone numbers remain mostly unpublished, making it difficult to include people who rely on cell phones in the sample.

In addition, software may block or end calls originating with phone numbers associated with polling companies, producing a nonresponse when those numbers are called.

With the prevalence of cell phones, the response rate for polls has fallen to less than 10 percent of those contacted, a far lower response rate than the 30 percent or more that pollsters experienced in the past.