YouGov, polling, and misinformation.

Hopefully people will see this post as I see a lot of misinformation going around about YouGov.

What is YouGov and why is it being discussed here?

YouGov is a website/app which conducts randomized surveys. Completing certain "paid" surverys earns users points that can be built up and spent on items like gift cards, etc. YouGov also conducts many other surveys that you can opt into that will not earn you points ("non paid surveys").

The reason it is brought up so frequently here is because some third parties (universities, news outlets) will hire YouGov to conduct Democratic Primary polls via their service. Some of these polls are considered "Qualifying" polls by the DNC which are used to determine what candidates are eligible to participate in the Democratic Debates that the DNC hosts.

Why do people on this sub say we should join YouGov?

I cannot speak for the sub, but the reason I personally suggest joining YouGov is because many traditional polls only conduct their polls via calling random landline telephone numbers and polling whoever answers. This can skew polls against communities like us, who largely are a younger base who do not have access to landlines and therefore cannot be polled and represent our candidate. Having more pro-Yang users on YouGov can increase our odds of being polled and more accurately represent the size of this movement.

Won't "brigading" YouGov skew the results?

These are not Facebook polls where anyone can opt in. YouGov selects users randomly to poll them. Simply joining YouGov does not garuantee that you will be polled. It is not brigading, it is not unfair, it is simply participating in the democratic process as it exists. If there was a movement on this sub to promote everyone in the Yang Gang to go buy a landline telephone, that wouldn't be brigading… It's still random whether we get a call to poll us or not.

How do I know if I'm being asked to poll?

YouGov will email you when you've been selected for a paid survey. I've found that YouGov emails get swept into my spam folder, so make sure you search and check spams. If you have the app, it may give you pop-up notifications. Either way I recommend checking YouGov daily.

Doesn't YouGov skew the results based on race/age/political affiliation?

We know that the results of some polls have been subject to weighting based on these factors. One notable example I see being discussed is that some polls filter out the votes of non-Democrats. I'm not sure whether it is YouGov or the companies that request these polls who do so. That's not up to us and there is nothing we can do about it. Please do not attempt to lie on these surveys and give them an actual reason to not count our votes.

Did YouGov withhold the results of X poll to snub Yang?

No. Again, YouGov conducts the polls, they do not release them or really do anything else with them as far as I can tell – correct me if I'm wrong. The notable 11% national poll from October that was only released recently came from a University who wrote a paper to accompany the poll. That paper is likely what delayed the release of the poll. The poll was not qualifying anyways, so it really makes no difference when it was released.

Should I post here showing off that I got polled?

Probably not. At best, they don't notice or care. At worst, they use it as a reason to discount the results. I would ask that you please refrain from doing so. If you want to talk about it, perhaps do so in the daily discussion thread rather than posting a screenshot in all caps "VOTED FOR OUR BOYYYY" or whatever.