The Harris Poll^® #10, February 13, 2004

Do Not Call Registry Is Working Well

More than half of all U.S. adults say they have signed up and they now receive far fewer telemarketing calls or none at all
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by Humphrey Taylor

The Federal Trade Commission’s National Do Not Call Registry has been remarkably successful. More than half of all adults (57%) say they have signed up and most of these people say they have either received no telemarketing calls since then (25%) or far less than before (53%). Only a few of those who have signed up report getting the same number (5%) or more (1%) telemarketing calls than before.

These are some of the results of a nationwide Harris Poll conducted online by Harris Interactive^® with a nationwide sample of 3,378 adults who were surveyed between January 19 and 28, 2004.

Other interesting findings in this research include:

The proportion of all adults who have heard of the Registry has increased from 71% last September to 91%.
The proportion of all adults who claim to have signed up with the Registry has increased from 32% last September to 57%.
Over 90% of those who have signed up report receiving fewer telemarketing calls, including the 25% who say they have received none, 53% who have received some but far less and 14% who have received some but a little less than before.

Knowledge and experience of polls, surveys and Do Not Call Registry

Most people on the Registry (68%) do not know if survey research firms and pollsters are allowed to call numbers that have signed up for the Registry. Only a quarter (24% of those signed up) know that they are allowed to call because they were exempted from the "do not call" restrictions. A few people (8% of those who have signed up) mistakenly believe that pollsters are not allowed to call.

Two in every five (41%) of those on the Registry report that they have been polled since signing up.

So what?

In my experience these results are remarkable. It is rare to find so many people benefit so quickly from a relatively inexpensive government program. This successful initiative now raises more questions about the desirability of "do not spam" legislation when, according to other surveys by Harris Interactive, the overwhelming majority of those online find spam very annoying.

Humphrey Taylor is the chairman of The Harris Poll^®, Harris Interactive.

TABLE 1

FAMILIARITY WITH NATIONAL DO NOT CALL REGISTRY

"Have you seen, read or heard about the National ‘Do-Not-Call Registry’ list that the Federal Trade Commission has recently set up to go into effect as of October 1, 2003?"

Base: All Adults

	September 2003	Now
	%	%
Have seen, read or heard	71	91
Have not seen, read or heard	28	7
Not sure/Refused	*	2

TABLE 2

REGISTERED FOR DO NOT CALL REGISTRY

"Have you registered for the National ‘Do-Not-Call Registry’ list?"

Base: All Adults

	September 2003	Now
	%	%
Have registered	32	57
Have not registered	67	41
Not sure/Refused	1	2

TABLE 3

VOLUME OF TELEMARKETING CALLS RECEIVED SINCE SIGNING UP ON DO NOT CALL REGISTRY

"Since you signed up, have you received any telemarketing calls?"

Base: All Who Have Registered

	Total
	%
No telemarketing calls	25
Some, but far less than before	53
Some, but a little less than before	14
About as many as before	5
More than before I signed up	1
Not sure	2

TABLE 4

WHETHER CALLED BY A POLL OR SURVEY SINCE SIGNING UP ON DO NOT CALL REGISTRY

"Since you signed up, have you been called by anyone who was doing a poll or a survey and wanted to ask you questions?"

Base: All Who Have Registered

	Total
	%
Yes, have been called	41
No, have not been called	51
Not sure	8

TABLE 5

KNOWLEDGE OF WHETHER POLLS AND SURVEYS CAN CALL THOSE ON DO NOT CALL REGISTRY

"Do you know if survey research firms and pollsters are allowed to call numbers that have signed up with the ‘Do-Not-Call Registry’?"

Base: All Who Have Registered

	Total
	%
They are allowed to call	24
They are not allowed to call	8
Not sure	68

Methodology

The Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between January 19 and 28, 2004 among a nationwide cross section of 3,378 adults. Figures for age, sex, race, education and number of adults in the household were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. "Propensity score" weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus three percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (non-response), question wording and question order, and weighting. It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors. This online sample is not a probability sample.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

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W20447
Q755, Q760, Q765, Q770, Q775