Push polls are phone calls designed to persuade voters under the dishonest pretense of conducting an independent survey, often by insinuating negative or misleading information about the other candidate and/or implying misleading or false positive information about their candidate.
The American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) unequivocally condemns push polling as a violation under their Code of Ethics, accurately calling it a "degradation of the political process":
"The AAPC board joined the pollsters in condemning this practice as a clear violation of the AAPC's Code of Ethics and a degradation of the political process... agreeing unanimously that so-called 'push polls' violate the AAPC's stricture against 'any activity which would corrupt or degrade the practice of political campaigning.' " (http://www.theaapc.org/default.asp?contentID=649)
You can also learn more about push polls and why they're so damaging to our political process by clicking the link above.
These calls can feel threatening and intrusive. It's important that you understand the following:
- You have the right not to be harassed in your own home by these callers. It's okay to tell them you don't want them to call you again, and they must abide by your request.
- You have the right not to answer their questions or give them any personal information at all without fear of political reprisals.
- You have the right to require them to tell you which organization they're calling from, which organization or candidate they're funded by, and what their contact information is.
This is exactly the kind of unethical campaigning and political shenanigans that our campaign is taking a stand against. And with your help, we can bring honesty, democracy and citizen representation back to the Roundhouse and restore the integrity of our Democratic Party as the party of the people.
Now's our time to create the change we want!
