(Direct Newsline)—Consumers may be signing on in droves, but they’re still not completely sure which calls apply to the national Do-Not-Call registry, according to a new Harris Interactive Survey.
Only 50% of those who have registered or are planning to register think that the number of unsolicited calls will go down significantly, according to the poll, which estimates that approximately 60 million households will eventually register.
The nationwide Harris Poll, which surveyed 1,011 adults between August 12 and 17, revealed that seven out of 10 Americans (71%) have seen, read or heard about the DNC registry. Most received their information from television, split evenly between national and local reports (32% each). Another 27% learned about it from television, 18% by word of mouth and 16% online.
About a third of those surveyed said they had signed on to the registry. Of those who hadn’t registered, four in 10 said they planned to register. An overwhelming majority—83%—thought the registry was a good idea.
There is some confusion, however, as to which calls apply to the registry. Eighty-four percent correctly said the registry applies to “telemarketing, sales related or commercial calls.” However, 42% also thought the registry applied to fund-raising calls from political parties and candidates or calls to conduct surveys about products and services, and 37% thought it applied to fund raising calls from non-profits. Thirty-one percent thought it covered calls to conduct surveys or polls for the media (31%), 30% thought it covered political polling calls and 23% thought it encompassed government or academic research.
Not surprisingly, 77% said they thought telemarketing calls are “always annoying.”
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