Decima Research released a poll Sunday which found 61 per cent of respondents saying the CBC lockout has had no impact on them at all.

A Canadian Media Guild official retorts that the poll firm asked the wrong people.

Some excerpts from the CP story on CTV.ca:

Just over 1,000 Canadians were surveyed by phone from Aug. 18 to 21 -- just after the lockout began Aug. 15 during the drowsy height of summer.

Decima Research CEO Bruce Anderson says muted public reaction suggests the CBC isn't facing a large market-share loss just yet.

"This is likely somewhat related to timing; people will not be consuming as much news during the latter part of the summer.'"

That could change as vacation season ends and more CBC fans tune in to a vastly changed roster of radio and TV schedules, he said. ...

About one in four people said they were watching or listening to CBC less since the dispute began, says the Decima survey, which is considered accurate to within 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Those who said they were most inconvenienced by the lockout tended to be Liberal and NDP voters or older people, the poll found. Most other respondents said they had not been affected.

Union spokesman Arnold Amber, CBC branch president of the Canadian Media Guild, helped frame and analyse political polls years ago when the public broadcaster did its own surveys.

He dismissed the Decima results as premature and "totally meaningless.'"

"They're polling the entire population rather than the population that actually cares and listens (consistently) to the CBC," he said in an interview.

"It's the equivalent of asking a bunch of people who only drive cars whether or not the bus service in their area is better or worse.'"

Amber said the decline in The National's ratings tell the story better. Those have fallen from around 800,000 viewers per night to between 313,000 and 505,000 for the BBC World Service, which is substituting for the TV network's flagship newscast.

Personally, I wonder whether how The National's ratings compare from August 2004 to August 2005. Unless it's an unusually newsworthy summer, the ratings probably would dip a bit.

Amber's protestations about asking the wrong people ring hollow. The poll found 10 per cent call the lockout a major inconvenience and another 27 per cent say it's a minor one.

There would be your CBC audience, Arnold.

But if I was going to criticize this poll, it's that the polling period closed just one week after the lockout began.

I would be surprised if the number of those saying they are inconvenienced doesn't rise in the coming weeks.