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The Push Polls Are Here

SOUTH CAROLINA VOTERS GET PHONEY PHONE POLLS SLAMMING THOMPSON, ROMNEY & McCAIN, PRAISING HUCKABEE 

FITSNews - January 17, 2008 - With only forty-eight hours to go before South Carolina Republicans indicate their presidential preference, surreptitious “push polls” are being reported throughout the state slamming various candidates (and praising one in particular) in a last-minute attempt to influence voters.

One such poll, a series of rotating, automated messages paid for by a group dubbing itself “Common Sense Issues,” attacked former Sen. Fred Thompson, Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, while praising former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

“Push polls” are commonly-used campaign tools that literally seek to “push” voters in the direction of supporting or opposing a specific candidate. They accomplish this - or at least attempt to - by asking leading questions and making highly-opinionated blanket statements, many of which often have little to no basis in fact.

More sophisticated push polls - such as the “Common Sense Issues” poll - will register the recipient’s “candidate preference” and position on specific issues and then feed them positive or negative information based on their answers. Interestingly enough, this particular “push poll” was received yesterday by Winthrop University political science professor Scott Huffmon, who shared his thoughts with FITSNews …

“I had been told about (the poll) earlier in the day, and then, lo and behold, I got called myself!” Huffmon said. “It was an automated survey that you answered ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to. After figuring out it wasn’t a standard poll, I started trying to give answers to spur the diatribes against McCain and Romney. It bashed them for taxes and not signing some pledge and for being wealthy and not connecting to the ordinary man … (it went) into detail about how rich Romney was and how he wrote his campaign a personal check for “17 million” and that McCain was a millionaire who had lived in Washington DC for thirty some years.”

A version of this poll was also received by Ruby, S.C. resident Alan M. Teitleman on Tuesday night. In an open letter to South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, Teitleman shared his experience:

Answering the phone, I was asked if I would participate in a 45 second poll on the presidential primary. After being asked if I supported President Bush and was planning to vote in the South Carolina Primary, I was asked whom I planned to support. I responded Fred Thompson. I was immediately thrown into a series of questions asking my position on illegal immigration, abortion, and others. Each question went as follows: “Are you pro-life” My answer “Yes”. Their response: “Did you know that Senator Fred Thompson [contradicting pro-life stance], and that Governor Mike Huckabee has [supporting pro-life stance]. After answering two of the questions, I took out my tape recorder and recorded the rest of the conversation. Being acutely aware of push polling tactics and negative campaigning, I answered some of the questions based on the responses that would illicit a negative response from the caller.

Teitleman forwarded his recording to McMaster’s office - along with Caller ID information collected from his phone - and requested that the Attorney General “pursue these individuals to the fullest extent of the law.”

From both Huffmon and Teitleman’s experiences, it seems clear that this poll was designed to “push” voters toward supporting Huckabee at the expense of the rest of the Republican field.

“I have a hard time thinking his national advisors would allow something like this,” Huffmon told FITSNews. “But some over-eager consultant? Who knows.”

Push polls, of course, were a heavily-used smear method in the 2000 South Carolina Republican Primary, a bitter battle that has earned the Palmetto State a national reputation for dirty campaigning.

“It is amazing how shameless we are,” Huffmon said. “Despite having a national spotlight on us for our nasty campaigning, we won’t quit!”

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