Pollster gets the public to ask the questions

Las Vegas-based Precision Opinion has launched the Fearless Opinion poll, which will use a telephone RDD sample of US households to reach adults aged 18-65.

Company president Jim Medick said: “The surveys will be pretty darn spot on and will be a lot more interesting because the questions originate from the people not from a corner office.”

Medick told Research: “We do so many public opinion polls, and I can’t tell you how many functions or parties I go to and somebody says to me, ‘I want to ask a question,’ and, ‘Why do they do it that way?’ so I thought, wouldn’t it be fun to let people send in questions they want asked, and give the answers right back to them.”

The firm plans to field and publish results from the first survey before Christmas, and hopes to keep running polls on a weekly basis, with results appearing on the Fearless Opinion blog.

The agency will also be tracking the types of questions that are asked to get a sense of the “tone and temperament” of the public.

“Start thinking about your questions and send them in,” said Medick. “That way at your next party you can have your facts straight so your rants will be so much more effective – or not!”

Medick said he sees the poll as “a freebie to stimulate conversation” and there are no plans to commercialise it.