Push polling
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Push polling is a negative campaigning technique, typically conducted by telephone, used to influence voters by asking specific questions about an issue or a candidate. Under the guise of an objective opinion poll, loaded questions are posed to mislead or bias the listener against an opposing candidate or political party.[1][2] The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), the American Association of Political Consultants, the Council for Marketing and Opinion Research, and the National Council on Public Polls have denounced the practice.[1]
Unlike in opinion polls, information is not collected and analyzed following the completion of a push poll. Rather, the purpose is to persuade the listener to vote against an opposing candidate by providing negative information, which may or may not be accurate.[3]
Not all surveys containing negative information are push polls. Political parties may conduct surveys containing negative information to test whether certain campaign messages or advertisements will be effective. [1]
Identifying a push poll
According to AAPOR, the following characteristics can help respondents identify push polls:[4]
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The following characteristics can help journalists, reporters, and survey professionals identify push polls:[4]
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Examples
2013
In the special election for the open U.S. House seat with the 1st Congressional District of South Carolina, Elizabeth Colbert-Busch (D) ran against former Gov. Mark Sanford (R). Prior to the election, South Carolina voters received calls from an unknown polling group asking the following questions, among others:[6][7]
- What would you think of Elizabeth Colbert Busch if I told you she had had an abortion?
- What would you think of Elizabeth Colbert Busch if I told you a judge held her in contempt of court at her divorce proceedings?
- What would you think of Elizabeth Colbert Busch if she had done jail time?
Reporting on this push polling, Philip Bump of The Atlantic wrote: "It's worth clarifying at this point: There have been no reports that any of these things actually happened to Colbert Busch. That's the nature of what's called push polling. Push polls aren't actually polls at all; rather, they're attempts to negatively influence voters and/or introduce scurrilous rumors into the political conversation."[7]
2000
In 2000, U.S. Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush competed for the Republican Party's presidential nomination. Ahead of the South Carolina presidential primary, residents of the state received phone calls asking, "Would you be more or less likely to vote for John McCain…if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?" The question referenced McCain's adopted daughter from Bangladesh who spent time campaigning with him in the state.[8] Dick Bennett of the American Research Group told Vanity Fair that the push polling "was blanket coverage," with the volume of push polling affecting his firm's ability to accurately poll the race.[9]
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The New York Times, "Push Polls, Defined," June 18, 2014
- ↑ The Free Dictionary, "Push polling," accessed October 27, 2020
- ↑ CBS News, "The truth about push polls," February 11, 2009
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 American Association for Public Opinion Research, "AAPOR Statements on Push Polls," accessed October 27, 2020
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ New Republic, "'She had an abortion:' A history of a political smear, Elizabeth Colbert Busch isn't the first female candidate to face the insinuation," May 6, 2013
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Atlantic, "Is Someone Calling South Carolina Voters to Smear Elizabeth Colbert Busch?" May 1, 2013
- ↑ The Nation, "Dirty Tricks, South Carolina and John McCain," January 14, 2008
- ↑ '"Vanity Fair, "The Trashing of John McCain," September 24, 2008
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