I realize it's a bit of a paranoid idea, and you might want to laugh at these people, but I can't blame two senior citizens for believing that something like that could happen. Hasn't CNN threatened to dox people before? I strongly suspect people are now, more than ever, lying to pollsters, because they see businesses burning on the TV, people getting fired, and they're scared that if they answer the wrong way, someone will come after them.
Can we really say that the media conducting these polls are above that?
I haven't answered a phone poll, or been called that I know of, but I'm guessing that all the pollsters calling are lefties and give off that vibe so people are much more likely to just be agreeable and try to be nice giving them the answers they want to hear.