DATE: Friday, October 17, 1997              TAG: 9710170028

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   67 lines

PUSH POLLS SAY NO TO PUSHY POLS A SCUMMY CAMPAIGN TECHNIQUE POLLUTES THE POLITICAL PROCESS

Push polls have apparently reared their ugly heads in Norfolk and Portsmouth races for the General Assembly. We say apparently because only those who receive the calls know the truth about the lies that are being told.

It's a disreputable campaign technique that's hard to police. Voters should hang up on push polls and candidates should renounce their use.

The American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), which represents reputable pollsters denouces push polling for damaging ``the reputation of legitimate polling, thereby discouraging the public from participating in legitimate survey research.''

By contrast with real polls, push polls don't seek to learn the views of voters but to push them to favor one candidate or scorn another. ``The intent is to disseminate campaign propaganda under the guise of conducting a legitimate public opinion poll,'' according to the AAPOR, which worries that such polls ``defame selected candidates by spreading false or misleading information about them.''

In the 86th District, Republican Bev Graeber believes push polls distorting her record on taxes have been used. Her opponent, Don Williams, denies sponsoring push polls. But a spokesman admits that the Williams campaign has received some complaints and suggests a state Democratic campaign organization may be responsible.

In the 79th District race, Republican Dan Evans claims a push poll has attempted to influence voters by portraying his pro-life position in an inflammatory way. Democrat Johnny Joannou's campaign vehemently denies using the technique: ``We have not and will not do push polls.'' And it accuses Evans of sponsoring push polls of his own that seek to smear Joannou.

Such exchanges indicate one objection to push polls: They are essentially covert dirty tricks that leave no footprints. Veteran campaign watchers report that party organizations often do conduct push polls so as to give candidates plausible deniability.

Broadcast ads have to indicate who's responsible for them. Mailings and handouts leave physical evidence. But a voice on the phone, pretending to be conducting a poll, is untraceable. The voice asks: ``Would you still support Candidate Y if you knew he'd raised taxes 87 times?'' Or, ``Does it bother you that Candidate Z doesn't want women to have the right to make their own medical decisions?''

The voter has no idea if the voice is a pollster or a telemarketer, an objective information seeker or a dissembling campaign worker. Even if doubts about the caller are raised, doubts about the candidate are often planted.

It's a scummy technique designed to win elections by spreading half-truths and innuendo that can't be backtracked to a partisan source. And push polls, like other forms of scum, tend to spread. University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato and Wall Street Journal reporter Glenn Simpson have written the book on corrupt campaign practices, including push polling. They believe ``hundreds of thousands, probably millions,'' of push poll calls were made during the 1994 congressional races.

Sabato and Simpson warn voters to be alert for telltale signs of push polling. Unlike legitimate polls, push polls often are very short, ask for no demographic data, but do ask respondents which candidate they favor. If the opponent of the poll's sponsor is named or the respondent claims to be undecided, ``a torrent of negativity is unleashed.''

When that happens, voters should hang up. Only those candidates willing to stand up and make their own charges are worthy of support. If voters refuse to elect candidates who hide behind push polls, the dirty practice may become less prevelant. Unfortunately, if both sides in a race are using push polls, voters can be stuck with the choice between bad and worse.

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