Confessions of a Push Poller

[Politics] Some news has recently come out about an opinion research firm in Utah called Western Wats which has alleged to conducted push polling meant to change peoples minds about Mitt Romney. Now not saying I care for Romney much at all, but I do think it's deliciously ironic that a firm that would capitalize on defaming Romney operates right from the heart of The U.C. (Utah County), Romney country.

Now push polling if you dont know, means fake surveys that essentially spread rumors and false statements about a candidate to change public opinion, all while under the guise of being official survey research.

Now the thing is Western Wats may not exactly be spreading false statements about Romney, that may not technically be push polling, but chances are the surveys they are conducting are meant to take Mitt down a peg.

What would make me say this? Well I'm ashamed to admit it, but I used to work at the Western Wats in Spanish Fork while I was getting my associates at UVSC. Now it's very possible things have changed but I can say with some certainty that I used to get paid to do something like unto push polling if not exactly that.

We used to have to conduct surveys for example that were hired by Pharmaceutical companies where we would conduct "research" on peoples opinions about buying medication in Canada. We would ask their opinion on buying cheap meds over the border, and then we would list them negative facts about the "dangers" of Canadian meds and then ask them to rate their opinion on them again, and then we would list more dangers, and then rate their opinion again and again ad nauseum.

Essentially we were contracted to do aggressive research. Research that was meant not to gather unbiased opinion, but to change opinion. And I would tell every person I called that was exactly what was going on--only way I could conscienably do that job for six bucks an hour.

Now who knows for sure if they are doing that now, but one needs to remember that companies like Western Wats aren't think tanks that have researchers who write and craft official studies. No they contract out to hire poor college and high school kids to call and harass people at all hours of the day and night reading them surveys (written by their clients) with definite political agendas.

It was one of the reason I quit, that, and my "supervisor" hadn't hit puberty yet, and that made it hard for me to accept the authority of him not letting me read while I conducted my bullshit research. (Eric Peterson)

The Pusher Man

[Push Poll] Last night, unable to recognize the caller ID number on the phone, my old man took a chance and picked up on the second ring. Seems he stumbled right into a pro-voucher push poll (though it wasn't identified as such, we figured as much from the types of questions being asked).

For the uninitiated, a push poll is exactly what the name suggests: A series of leading questions an a topic designed to "push" the respondent into favoring the pollster's position. A push poll has no basis in political science. It isn't carefully worded to help elicit a thoughtful response as in a Gallup poll, or a Dan Jones poll. Unlike legitimate polls, pushers don't use a scientific sample of the population; they're only interested in pressing propaganda.

Liberals and conservatives use them, and they are a lousy way to do polls. So last night, sitting around as we do like a couple of booger-eatin' morons waiting for stupid telephone polls to interrupt us, the questions from the throaty recorded voice went like this:

Pollster: "Do you believe your children should have the best possible education?" My Old Man (gleefully pulling pollster's chain): "No."
Pollster: "Do you believe that parents should have some influence in their children's education?"
My Old Man: "Certainly not."
Pollster: "Do you believe that people who lack the financial means to send their children to private school should have a chance to do so?"
My Old Man: "Why hell no."

So that's how it went. Old Man hung up before the interview ended. We don't think we got pushed into anything, and we returned to the blissful state of being morons. Can't wait till this election is over. You? (Holly Mullen)