Is Hillary Clinton Push Polling?

North Carolina activist David LaMotte just got a push poll call from the firm of Geoff Garin, the new head of Hillary Clinton's campaign team. It wasn't as bad as asking "would it change your mind if you knew John Kerry actually bought his Vietnam medals off eBay." Or "How do you feel about John McCain's illegitimate black children?" But it was a push poll nonetheless, even if it also had elements of information gathering and message testing. This isn't the first time that the Clinton campaign or their allies have had pollsters offering positive information about Clinton and negative information about her opponents--they did it on the eve of the California primary and in South Carolina. (And firms linked to the Giuliani campaign made highly negative push poll calls against Mitt Romney in Iowa and New Hampshire) But it's a disturbing practice precisely because it tries to spin the recipient under the pretense of merely asking about their views, and from everything I can tell, it's a practice that Obama has avoided.

Here's LaMotte's story, following a clip from the actual call, which I'd highly recommend clicking and listening to.:

Press the play button to listen

[I've heard reports that the button above isn't always working, so yif it doesn't, you can also click here ]

A guy named Ed called from Akron, Ohio, and when I asked what polling outfit he works for he said Garin-Hart-Yang, based in DC At first I was delighted to be polled, as I've been interested in the race and following the rest of the nation's polls closely throughout the campaign.

The questions started out normal enough, but got progressively more ridiculous. Early in the conversation Ed asked my preference among the Democratic candidates and I told him I was an Obama supporter.

Then the questions turned to long Hillary-praising and Barack bashing policy statements with the response options being "Do you consider that a very strong, strong or weak or very weak reason to support her candidacy for president?" which is kind of an unanswerable question, and clearly not the point. At the end of the conversation they asked "Now based on everything we've discussed, who would you vote for?"

The questions were often based on statements that I wouldn't agree with in the first place. It's classic push polling as I've read about it, though never experienced it before. The questions are of the "Are you still beating your wife?" variety. No way to answer with any sense of veracity and integrity.

Toward the end of the conversation it occurred to me to record it on my old-school tape-based answering machine, so the following is a verbatim transcript of some of the content:

"Hillary Clinton knows that people are being squeezed by the rising costs of everyday items, especially the cost of a gallon of gas. People have been paying through the roof and at the pump, and she thinks it is time the oil companies paid their fair share. She wants to end their special tax breaks and use that money to invest in alternative energy that will create millions of new jobs. As president she will launch a full-scale investigation of the oil companies' price rigging. Upon taking office as president she will lower gas prices by taxing the excess profits of the oil companies and use that money to cut gas tax.

Do you consider that a very strong, strong or weak or very weak reason to support her candidacy for president?"

It goes on a bit later:

"I'm going to read you a few criticisms opponents might make about Barack Obama. For each one please tell me if they give you very major doubts, fairly major doubts, some doubts or no real doubts about supporting Barack Obama for president. At a time when we need leaders who are clear, strong and decisive, Obama has been inconsistent, saying he would remove all troops, but then indicating that he might not, and pledging to renegotiate NAFTA, but then sending signals that he would not actually do so as president. He supported George W. Bush's 2005 energy bill which payed six billion dollars in subsidies to the oil and gas industry, nine billion dollars in subsidies to the coal industry and twelve billion dollars in subsidies to the nuclear power industry. It was called 'a piñata of perks' and 'the best energy bill corporations could buy. Would that leave you with major doubts, some doubts or no real doubts?"

And how do I answer that question, given the fact that I dispute some of the premises laid out?

Didn't they already get embarrassed about push polling in the Midwest early in this campaign and didn't she repudiate the practice? I find this kind of thing pretty shocking, and I think people should know it's going on. It's demeaning and disheartening, especially given the fact that my civic pride was piqued by being called in the first place, only to realize I was being manipulated.

David LaMotte can be contacted at david [at] davidlamotte.com for further follow-up.

Comments

[Lordsuhn]

I just received a push poll last night here in Indiana. the woman said she was from PSA polling service and that she didn't know who commissioned the poll - but it was obvious from the questions. Most of them sounded like Clinton campaign commercials.
I was very disgusted.

I certainly won't be voting for her in the primary now.

[ChristiB]

She will do ANYTHING to win!!!!!!!!!!! YUCK.

[Harbinger08]

This is Hillary, folks. Take a good look. I used to think she was better than this, too. Maybe she was, once. But not anymore. Once someone goes over to the dark side....

[TheMastadon]

How stupid does the Clinton campaign and the MSM think we are? Honestly... trying to state that she is ahead in the popular vote by counting Florida and Michigan??? How can she do that with a straight face... from this moment on, if any Superdelegates are taken in by this argument and pledge for her, I'll lose all faith in politics

[nypoet22]

i like hillary, but her campaign has really touched all the wrong chords this primary season, turning a gigantic early advantage into basically no chance whatsoever of winning fairly. honestly, i think the main reason intellectuals and the college-educated have flocked to obama has been that the hillary campaign's tactics have repeatedly insulted our intelligence with old-style campaign tricks and obvious distortions of the facts. not that obama's campaign have been angels, but when they make their case it sounds more like a reasoned argument and less like 1950's propaganda.

i'd be perfectly happy to have hillary fight tooth and nail for us in november, but the democratic primary is the wrong place for this sort of stuff. first of all, most dems deluded enough to fall for such campaign tactics are already republicans. secondly, we're supposed to be the party who sticks to a rational interpretation of the facts, not fox's propagandized nonsense. my heart sinks when i see her make a comment like "change you can xerox," that is obviously a distortion and obviously scripted by some pollster.

she is better than this.

[drzoon]

i used to at least think that about bill.

now i am pretty sure i was never more wrong about anything or anybody than i was about him and his wife.

they have always been this... and its part of the stain the clintons have left on this country

[EvoMan]

she is better than this.

No she's not.

[SMP]

The Clinton Camp did this in Pennsylvania too.....I was a recipient of such a call ( am older white female)

The caller really went on the attack when I stated I was going to vote for Obama, period. Asked me How could I vote for a black man?......I then hung up.


Seams to me...the Clinton camp has done this more than has been reported.

[Darnamell]

Her campaign did it in Nevada too. Prior to the caucus and also pushing the hard sell trying to turn county delegates to her. Didn't work for me. If you have to win playing dirty tricks, you aren't really winning, are you?

[omahkohkiaayo]

Billary are both malignant narcissists, megalomaniacs and predators. All the biographies, pro and con show her scheming in 1997 to produce a "groundswell" of support for her carpetbagging in New York as a stepping stone to the White House and finishing off Billary's "20-year project" for 8 years each in the White House.

As Plato noted: "Those who seek power are invariably the least fit to hold and wield it."

[killlthekingg]

predators? Your stupid immature groundless attacks are just flat out stupid. 20 year project? You know this how? What network news channel told you this? It was Olberrmann wasn't it? Stop believing everything youtube/countdown with olberrmann tells you to believe.

[BillyT]

Let me try this one on ya:

"SINCE Hillary Clinton has been shown to be a liar, an embellisher, and a panderer....

Do you think it's more sensible to

1) Vote for her Democratic opponent who happens to LEAD IN ALL CATEGORIES and CANNOT BE OVERTAKEN

or 2) Stay home on Primary Day??"

[FortuneTeller]

Since I live in Oregon I'm just waiting for the push poll call. Then I can ask the caller if he/she is still smoking crack and if not then when did did they quit.

[Truthortradition]

How do you all think Ronald Reagan won the White House. Lee Atwater knew how to push a poll in his sleep..
He and Carl Rove had it down to a science.
Face it Democrats, you better learn to fight fire with fire or get the heck outta the kitchen.
Hillary knows how to fight. She's a warrior. And yes, she will do what she needs to do to save this nation.
You Obama supporters are living in dreamland if you think you can just win the White House by giving vague speeches and jumping up and down to some good music.
You Have to fight with whatever weapons you own.
Hillary didn't make the rules of the game. She's just playing the way the boys set it up and I sincerely hope she wins.

[batspaul]

She will do what she needs to do to advance her own ambition. "Saving this nation" fell off her agenda long ago, or she wouldn't be repeatedly trying to slime another Democrat who shares the same policy goals.

You are right in one respect- she certainly sees herself as a warrior. But she fights only for herself, and has lost any semblance of integrity. And anyway, I don't need another President who sees himself (or herself) as a warrior.

I am not a Hillary hater. I think she's a brilliant person. I started this campaign season as her supporter. But I have been repelled by her tactics. I can't even begin to describe my disillusionment with both Clintons. There's no point beating the Republicans if we become them.

And when Obama wins, sticking (as much as is humanly possible) to the high road, we will have a chance to bring the degraded national discourse back to something approaching a respectable level.

I will hold my nose for two more weeks, hoping that Indiana and North Carolina will settle this. But I won't be surprised if, come January, she's on Pennsylvania Ave. barking epithets through a megaphone at Obama's inauguration.

[TheMastadon]

I couldn't agree with you more. Just because she fights like republicans doesn't mean we shouldn't want something better! Think about how upsetting it was when John Kerry was swift-boated and are we really going to think it's not only acceptable, but expected, for us to do it to the other side.

Democrats need to find their own identity and Obama has all the right ideas!!!!

[Larry Buchite]

What do the boy's have to do with this? I rank Hillary right along with G.W. Bush you can tell when she is lying because her lips are moving. There will not be a democrat in the white house in 2008. I think what we need to get the party in shape is McCain in 2008 so he can stack the courts to over turn Roe. Then he can take more from our veterans and ask more of them. Then he can expand the war in the middle east to get the men and women to fight this expanded war we will need a draft. My mind is almost made up to vote republican strait down the ticket. There is no longer a viable democratic in the race.

[BillyT]

You are clearly used to second-rate politicians and cannot imagine anything better.

Let me ask you:

"Since no politician can possibly have your best interest in mind, do you think it's more sensible to just vote for the more successful one thus far or to stay away from voting at all??"

What a moron. Your candidate aspires to Karl Rove tactics and you are cheering her on.

[chery]

Oh my! See, now recently there was a video on youtube of girls beating a friend up to show on line, and the authorities went into action to arrest these young ladies and show them the error of their ways! Seems that assault is illegal, even if all the kids on line are doing, mom!

[Aaror]

Hillary knows how to anger a portion of the party base that Democrats can't win without. If she is the nominee, Repubs will come out to vote against her, and Blacks won't bother to show up and vote. Expect McCain to win by a landslide and get both houses of congress for the Repubs too. With a mandate like that he can invade Iran and cut the tax rates to 0 for millionaires.
If you are fighting a war, and have two potential leaders, and one tries to assasinate the other, does it make you think the assasin is a better leader? Or does it make you think they care more about their position than winning the war?

[tandrmcdonald]

Is Hillary Clinton using push polling?
Is the Pope Catholic?

[Sunburst]

Obama may not be taking the easy road, but he sure is taking the right road to victory.
It doesn't have to be famous people following him, just the right people.
The fog is rising, and it will be a shorter journey.

[Sunburst]

Hilary is so loaded with lies. They go half way around the world, before truth even has time to put his pants on.

[2351]

Getting ready for Obama in Kentucky-May 20-Don't believe the news reports-Obama has a strong showing here in Kentucky.

Kentucky for Obama-YES WE CAN

[SouthernYankeeBelle]

By the time Bubba get there and lies Obama's lead will be cut. I hope Obama wins all the rest of the primaries just to show those BubbaBill&Hill can't steal the election.

[ched]

I wish it were true, but according to polls, your fellow Kentuckians are the most racist lot in the country, voting for McCain against either candidate, with many respondents stating expressly that they "will not vote for a black man."

Run, don't walk, out of Kentucky.

[booker52]

As this goes on it's just turns me off. Hillary might want to take notes from this, Stop it!!! It will not get you votes lady. Going negative is not working. In fact it's pushing folks towards McCain. So stop!!!

[gevan]

I was polled in late January about ten days before my New Jersey primary. I got the impression that the pollster was trying to get me to agree that "experience" was a desireable quality in a President. Because I remember how much more experienced Stephen Douglas and John Bell were when compared to Abraham Lincoln, I wouldn't bite.