By Staff
LANSING – Michigan residents don't much care for those automated phone calls bombarding households these days, according to a recent statewide survey conducted by Denno-Noor Research in partnership with The Rossman Group, one of Michigan's top public relations, political and issue management consulting firms, and Michigan Information and Research Services.
"Robo-calls," as they're called in the political business, are pre-recorded messages sent to a pre-determined audience via computer-generated telephone calls.
Because of their relatively inexpensive cost (about five cents per call for a 30-second message), most political candidates and issue campaigns use robo-calls as a staple campaign tactic.
However, if the voters of Michigan had their say in the matter, they'd not only prefer not to receive them, they would outlaw the calls altogether.
According to the Rossman/MIRS/Denno-Noor poll, when asked if the state Legislature should pass a law making automated phone calls illegal, 68.2 percent of the state's registered voters said yes, while 24.8 percent opposed such a ban.
"Clearly, by nearly a three-to-one margin, voters are fed up with the barrage of recorded phone messages they are receiving in the closing month of the campaign," said Rossman Group CEO Kelly Rossman-McKinney. "That's a huge margin, and one that may spur the Legislature into considering following the public's lead and banning this type of political campaigning."
Added Rossman-McKinney, "And most of these calls thus far have been of an advocacy nature – intended to persuade voters to vote for, or against, a candidate or ballot proposal. We haven't even started the infinitely busier robo-get-out-the-vote/last minute attack week. Brace yourselves, Michigan."