A new Harris Interactive Poll finds that 76% of U.S. adults have signed up for the Federal Trade Commission’s Do Not Call Registry, and most say the move has either reduced or zeroed out the number of telemarketing calls they receive.
That 76% is a notable increase over the 57% who had signed on to the DNC list in January 2004, and far beyond the 32% who enrolled to block marketing calls in September 2003, three months after the list was started.
According to the Harris survey, conducted in early December, 18% of respondents said they had received no telemarketing calls after signing up for the registry. Sixty-one percent reported getting far fewer calls, and 12% said the number of calls had declined a bit. About 6% said they got the same number of telemarketing calls after enrollment, and 1% said the calls had actually increased.
On the issue of calls that are permissible under the Do Not Call Implementation Act, 63% of those polled said they do not know if survey research firms and pollsters are allowed to call numbers listed in the registry. They are-- a fact that 24% of respondents knew. But 13% of those questioned were under the impression that the Do Not Call Registry also prevented survey workers and pollsters from phoning the numbers on the list: It doesn't.
