29 September 2005

GOP caught push polling in Vermont 2006 Senate race

David Sirota - 9.29.05

According to this letter published in Vermont's Rutland Herald, the national Republican Party has already started the shady and ethically-questionable practice of push polling in the 2006 U.S. Senate race.

Specifically, Vermonter Tony Gordon reports receiving a call from a out-of-state call center in Nebraska. The caller asked "While it is fine to have a gadfly like [Senate candidate] Bernie Sanders in the House, since Vermont is such a small state, we must have real leadership in the Senate. Do you agree or disagree?" Clearly, as Gordon notes, the question was deliberately phrased to guarantee a desired result and spread misleading information about Congressman Sanders - not to guage actual public opinion.

Webster's Dictionary defines a "push poll" as "an opinion poll done with loaded questions or offering negative information to sway the opinions of those polled." By that definition, what was described in the Rutland Herald, can safely be called a push poll - a practice widely considered to be among the most unethical in politics.

Incidentally, for those who think that Sanders is merely a gadfly and not a "real" leader, see this Rolling Stone article on his ability to pass legislation through the GOP-controlled House, or this previous post detailing his record.

UPDATE: According to Vermont political reporter Peter Freyne, this kind of shady polling has been going on for some time.

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1 comment:

nine said...

3rd REPUBLICAN U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE FOR VERMONT IS HERE!!!

Cris Ericson is now officially the 3rd Republican candidate for the office of United States Senator for Vermont 2006.

http://www.vtgop.org/Candidates/

2006 Republican candidates

Vermonters!
Please call your local Public Access T.V. station now and ask them to play the NEW Cris Ericson 2006 Political Issues DVD, ask them to air it in August, OK?

The Primary Election is September 12, 2006.

Rich Tarrant and Greg Parke, the other two Republican candidates, have lots of campaign funds.

Cris has enough gas money to get to a debate.

Cris will win because there are more poor Republicans than rich Republicans in Vermont,
and the poor ones feel that the rich candidates cannot understand how they struggle to survive in Vermont.

Please visit Cris's website
Cris Ericson

Cris's dog, "Z" appears on her DVD which has already been sent to all of the Public Access T.V. stations in Vermont.