I Got Polled

After ignoring an unknown number for several days, I finally Googled their persistent ass and took the next call from Quinnipiac, whose soft-spoken young man first led me through the usual opening qualifiers: gender, age, education, zip code, party affiliation, recent voting history, etc.

The next 40 or so questions dealt mostly with the 2013 NYC mayoral elections with a focus on Bloomberg's "nanny state" anti-obesity and anti-smoking campaigns and whether city officials should weigh in publicly on issues like Chick-Fil-A or attempt to deny such businesses a license to operate.

After that came questions on whether I approved of NYPD Chief Ray Kelly's stop-and-frisk policy and whether I thought an end to the policy would lead to an increase in gun violence. Then I was asked if I was more or less likely to vote for born-again Christian, atheist, Muslim, or gay candidates. (Interestingly there was no question regarding Jews. In New York City!) Finally came a series of questions about my approval/disapproval of the top officials in the city and of them, whom I'd be most likely to support for mayor. (I passed on that last one.)

But the most curious question was whether I would be less likely to vote for a candidate who is "obese or overweight." I've been polled a few times before on the streets and by phone, but I've never been asked that. None of the top candidates or officials in the city are notably heavy, at least to my knowledge, so I'm wondering what that one is all about, unless it somehow tracks back to Bloomberg and Big Soda.

Have you been polled this season?