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BY LANCE GRIFFIN
Media General News Service
DOTHAN, Ala. -- Wallace Grissett doesn't make hanging up on callers a common practice. But when a polling agency called his home last week and started saying what he believed to be negative things about his favorite Congressional candidate, that's exactly what he did.
"I don't normally get upset about things, but that bothers me," said Grissett, who lives in Ozark.
Grissett, who said he supports the Congressional campaign of Sen. Harri Anne Smith, R-Slocomb, said he received a phone call at his home last week asking him to participate in a survey.
Grissett said the questioning began with general questions about the Republican party.
"Then it just got deeper and deeper into negativism about Harri Anne," Grissett said. "I just finally hung up."
Grissett said he believed the poll was designed to reflect favorably on Smith's opponent in the upcoming Congressional runoff, State Rep. Jay Love, R-Montgomery.
But the Love campaign's pollster, Jim McLaughlin of McLaughlin and Associates, said there was no attempt to skew the results.
"I do a lot of work in Alabama, do a lot of work nationally. If I give inaccurate results, it's my reputation on the line," McLaughlin said.
The Love campaign issued a press release Monday, announcing results of an "internal campaign poll" which showed Love leading Smith 60 percent to 32 percent among likely voters in the July 15 runoff for the Republican nomination of the 2nd Congressional District. The winner will face Democrat nominee Bobby Bright in November.
The Smith campaign responded, calling the poll a "push poll."
David Lanoue, chair of the political science department at the University of Alabama, said push polls are commonly used in election campaigns.
Lanoue said a push poll is "when an interested party polls the public using a leading question intended to get negative information about the opponent into circulation."
The information may be true or not. Typically, no data is collected or analyzed since the goal is to get the information out to as many voters as possible.
McLaughlin disputes the Smith campaign claim, saying the poll he conducted for the Love campaign does not fit the description of a push poll.
"We don't do any push polling. I think it's a waste of money, a bad idea," McLaughlin said.
Michael Lowry, campaign manager for Love, said earlier this week the poll included "message testing", but that the message testing did not shade the results.
Lanoue said he believed it would be "impossible" for message testing to be included in a poll without skewing results.
"If you want to know where people stand on the candidates, then you just ask them who they prefer. If you want to message test, then you ask questions that gauge opinions on things, but you don't release it as a poll," Lanoue said.
McLaughlin declined to talk specifically about any message testing related to last week's poll, but said no message testing was conducted before the "ballot", or poll questions.
"None of that was asked before the ballot," McLaughlin said.
Media General News Service
DOTHAN, Ala. -- Wallace Grissett doesn't make hanging up on callers a common practice. But when a polling agency called his home last week and started saying what he believed to be negative things about his favorite Congressional candidate, that's exactly what he did.
"I don't normally get upset about things, but that bothers me," said Grissett, who lives in Ozark.
Grissett, who said he supports the Congressional campaign of Sen. Harri Anne Smith, R-Slocomb, said he received a phone call at his home last week asking him to participate in a survey.
Grissett said the questioning began with general questions about the Republican party.
"Then it just got deeper and deeper into negativism about Harri Anne," Grissett said. "I just finally hung up."
Grissett said he believed the poll was designed to reflect favorably on Smith's opponent in the upcoming Congressional runoff, State Rep. Jay Love, R-Montgomery.
But the Love campaign's pollster, Jim McLaughlin of McLaughlin and Associates, said there was no attempt to skew the results.
"I do a lot of work in Alabama, do a lot of work nationally. If I give inaccurate results, it's my reputation on the line," McLaughlin said.
The Love campaign issued a press release Monday, announcing results of an "internal campaign poll" which showed Love leading Smith 60 percent to 32 percent among likely voters in the July 15 runoff for the Republican nomination of the 2nd Congressional District. The winner will face Democrat nominee Bobby Bright in November.
The Smith campaign responded, calling the poll a "push poll."
David Lanoue, chair of the political science department at the University of Alabama, said push polls are commonly used in election campaigns.
Lanoue said a push poll is "when an interested party polls the public using a leading question intended to get negative information about the opponent into circulation."
The information may be true or not. Typically, no data is collected or analyzed since the goal is to get the information out to as many voters as possible.
McLaughlin disputes the Smith campaign claim, saying the poll he conducted for the Love campaign does not fit the description of a push poll.
"We don't do any push polling. I think it's a waste of money, a bad idea," McLaughlin said.
Michael Lowry, campaign manager for Love, said earlier this week the poll included "message testing", but that the message testing did not shade the results.
Lanoue said he believed it would be "impossible" for message testing to be included in a poll without skewing results.
"If you want to know where people stand on the candidates, then you just ask them who they prefer. If you want to message test, then you ask questions that gauge opinions on things, but you don't release it as a poll," Lanoue said.
McLaughlin declined to talk specifically about any message testing related to last week's poll, but said no message testing was conducted before the "ballot", or poll questions.
"None of that was asked before the ballot," McLaughlin said.