The Cheater Problem in Polling

Abstract

HUMAN BEINGS, it seems, remain human beings when they are asking questions for polling organizations. They remain human enough to sometimes make up answers instead of pounding pavements in search of a carefully categorized specimen—so much so, Mr. Crespi says, that cheating is becoming a major problem of polling. Mr. Crespi feels that present methods of stopping cheating overlook the nub of the matter: the problem is not so much one of morals as of morale.