Yes, A Push Poll Would BE Illegal - Granite Grok

Yes, A Push Poll Would BE Illegal

File under ‘Nuance.’

Rumor has it the Lambert campaign may have taken issue with my calling their poll a push poll, twiceOr was it three times?  A push poll would be illegal.

If it were to go to court, they might have a case, but quite often it is a matter of envelopes being pushed, or matters of nuance. And while my original “push” implied that the poll was pushing voters toward his opponent, the followup suggests language that paves a path, so to speak.

I’m not suggesting that their push poll is the illegal variety, not necessarily, just that it meets a likely definition in principle if not under statute.

Is this the sort of thing you’d like to see in your congressman?

Wikipedia has a snippet that hints at the nature of the problem…

Types of push polls and their effects

The mildest forms of push polling are designed merely to remind voters of a particular issue. For instance, a push poll might ask respondents to rank candidates based on their support of an issue in order to get voters thinking about that issue.

Many push polls are negative attacks on other candidates. These attacks often contain suggestions not stated as facts.They ask questions such as “If you knew that Candidate Smith was being investigated for corruption, would you be more likely to vote for him, or less likely?” The question does not state that any investigation has taken place, so it is not a lie, but it puts in the respondent’s mind the idea that Candidate Smith may be corrupt.

Emphasis mine.

Now, compare that to this…with regard to accusations of being pro-amnesty, pro-Obama, por-big spending, pro-boondoggle,  and so on…

“Knowing this about Marilinda Garcia, would you be more likely, or less likely to vote for Marilinda Garcia, or if it wouldn’t make a difference.”

That’s a paraphrase, but the mechanics are the same.

So is it illegal?  Probably not.

But it is push polling and someone said it was OK to do it.

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