Now I know what a "push-poll" is. The rethugs are desperate.

[caledesi]

Got push-polled by the rethug last week AND this week from Central Research. Live in Tampa.

How did I know that I was being push-polled?

Q: What issue concerns you most?
Read a list of things like lower taxes etc. NEVER MENTIONED IRAQ! I said "Isn't Iraq on your list?" 'Uh, er, no.'

Q: Do you think Charlie Justice (D) runs negative ads?
A: No.
NEVER gave same question for Kim B (R)!

I started "playing with the 2nd pollster"....after reading the question about certain candidates...I would then ask is s/he Dem? Then I would immediately give a real positive answer for Dem. I would sometimes cut him off when I recognized a Dem. I would interrupt and give answer before he had the time to read all the candidates.

Q: In the coming election would you vote for Charlie Crist (R) (and closeted gay, nicknamed "Tallahassee Lassie) or Jim Davies?
A: Why would I vote for someone like Crist who isn't honest about who he is? Jim Davies is my candidate. LOL!

This is the "kicker"
Q: Are you an evangelical?
A: Hell no!

edit: usual stuff

[grizmaster]

1. The evangelical question was the key

It sounds like one of the polls the repugs use to identify who to target for GOTV efforts the last few days of the campaign

[jean]

2. bingo. They're identifying their micro-targeting households.

[MrCoffee]

3. you blew it on the evangelical question!

always say YES...it blows their minds.

[caledesi]

4. Oh yeah, I did blow it! Gotta remember that for next poll. nt

[niyad]

5. I always ask who commissioned the poll, and when they cannot

answer, tell them I refuse to talk to anybody who is too stupid to know for whom they are working, and that it's probably a repuke, so I wouldn't answer them anyway.

[caledesi]

8. Good advice, but sometimes I like to fvck with them! nt

[SCantiGOP]

6. push poll invented in SC

I went to graduate school with Lee Atwater, Reagan's Karl Rove. The first major race he ran was Carrol Campbell (later a 2 term governor) for the Greenville area US House seat (the district includes Bob Jones University). His opponent was Max Heller, a Holocaust survivor who arrived in the US penniless and became a self-made millionaire, philanthropist and Mayor of Greenville. Heller was expected to win easily. The phone polls that started up a week before the election, pretending to be independent, asked people who they intended to vote for. If they said Heller, there would be a later question along the lines, "Is your faith in Jesus Christ important to you?" Assuming the respondent said yes, the caller would, in a hushed, conspiratorial tone of voice, say, "Well, you know Max Heller is a Jew, and they don't believe in Jesus." This sleazy maneuver is widely accepted as the reason Heller lost a very close race, and the first successful use of a push poll. Max Heller died a few years ago as one of the most respected and admired men in the State. Atwater and Campbell, it is widely believed, are burning in Hell.

[chaplainM]

10. "Get out of Hell, free" card redeemed

>Atwater and Campbell, it is widely believed, are burning in Hell.

Not Atwater. Deathbed conversion.

[SCantiGOP]

12. too late

too little

[maseman]

15. Great recap of a push poll

No offense, but the original poster was not being push-polled. Just because they might ask about one candidate without asking about the other is not push polling. It is a perceptual poll. If I am running a campaign I may pay to poll find out some quick perceptions of my candidate like asking about negative ads, asking about evangelical stuff, etc. That is perceptual research.

Like mentioned in post SCantiGOP asking a specific question which answers trigger a statement type response is a push poll. A certain answer pushes a statement or claim onto the respondent.

Fucking with pollsters is everyone's prerogative. But just remember you might be screwing the pooch if your Dem candidate is the one conducting the poll. Sometimes the interviewers don't know what or who the poll is for. Polling companies use independent calling centers around the country. An interviewer gets a script with questions on it.

[HelloDubya]

7. "If you found out candidate (A) .....

"We're conducting a non-partisan poll of likely voters. Are you a likely voter?"

"Um, maybe."

"Close enough. If you found out that your DEMOCRATIC <fill in the name and position in question> stomped on kittens in thigh-high red spike heeled boots while smoking crack, looking at pornography on the Internet, and trying to seduce hookers (not mentioning underage pages right now), would that make you more or less likely to vote for him?"

[LostInAnomie]

9. I was push polled a couple of months ago.

I live in a battle ground district in Indiana the push polls are going around pretty heavily. They started out by asking my opinion on certain politicians. For every Democrat I answered "very favorable" and every Repuke I answered "very unfavorable". After they had established my political party they started in on the push questions involving Brad Ellsworth (D). Every question was damn near slander, accusing him of being personal responsible for every crime that occurred while he was a sheriff. The only options that were made available for my answers were "More likely to vote for him" or "Less likely to vote for him" so I made a third option and said "Will have no effect on my vote for him." They didn't like that but I told them that they would have to accept it or the poll was over. After about 20 slanders I told them that I felt like I was being push polled. The woman said "Well, these are topics that ARE going to come up during the campaign, and Ellsworth is going to have to answer for them." I responded, "So do you have a list of negative things about Hostettler? Like him being convicted of trying to sneak a gun on a plane? Or him accusing a room full of breast cancer survivors of having abortions?" She replied, "I can't respond to that." and I said "Well, I can't take part in you bullshit push poll." and hanged up.

[caledesi]

11. Great story. Now I am questioning whether I was push-polled.

It didn't get that ugly. In your opinion, DUers, was I push-polled?

[SCantiGOP]

13. probably

the better they are, the less obvious it is. A legitimate poll will indentify itself at the beginning.

[Beacho]

14. Should have said "Yes" to the evangelical question

They were fishing for follow up calls and you could've tied up some of their resources.

[cui bono]

16. Plus you could make them believe they are losing the evangelicals and not

try to get them to vote any more. :)

[caledesi]

17. Amen! Next time I will say YES to Evangelical. nt