[StBernard] opinion poll phone call

[Westley Annis]

What you experienced is called a "push" poll.  It's purpose is NOT to find
out what or how voters truly feel, but to learn by your reaction to the
questions if there is an "angle" (campaign attack issue) that could be
effective.

Just ask any experienced, professional pollster and they will tell you this.
Over the years I've written (the questions) and administered countless polls
for umpteen candidates.  However, it was (and still is) my personal policy
not to perform push polls - I don't believe in them, nor do I believe you
ever really get anything out of them that ends up producing the effective
results you hoped for.

Furthermore, I've only worked with John Grimm of Multi-Quest International
in Metairie, who many consider to be the best pollster in the country, and
he too refuses to do push polls - most ethical pollsters don't.

Also, a "real" poll will NEVER ask you any part of your name - in that
industry it's considered to be taboo.  So, if they asked you for your name,
they most likely know it already but were checking to see if you'd actually
answer.  It's all too quick and easy for them to match your phone number
against the voter roll list they have. 

And don't forget, a "real" poll will always identify itself saying WHO they
are, WHERE they are calling from and the person will at least tell you
his/her first NAME.

Be on your guard - don't be afraid to ask questions back.

John Scurich



-----Original Message-----
I recently received an election opinion poll phone call, and you probably
will, too. It starts out by asking how you view various local elected
officials, favorably or not, but it's not every elected official we have, so
maybe a few joined together to pay for this. Then it focuses on the
sheriff's election. Then it asks if any of the following statements would
affect your vote one way or the other for our incumbent sheriff or would it
not matter. The funny thing is that you would have to assume each statement
the caller says is absolutely true about the incumbent sheriff. I said to
every statement that unless I had proof it was true or false, I couldn't
possibly say if it affected my vote.  I won't give away the questions
because you need to hear it yourself and I don't want to create a bias.  It
also said a lot of negative statements about an apparent candidate for
sheriff, that again, until I know if it is absolute truth, I can't say it
will affect my vote. The ca ller said she understood. Then, she wanted my
first name for verification purposes. No way, that's not appropriate.
Sheriff's race will be interesting. Anonymous ( so as to not to give away
identity to pollster)