A push poll is a political campaign technique in which an individual or organization attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll. Push polls are generally viewed as a form of negative campaigning. The term is also sometimes used incorrectly to refer to legitimate polls which test political messages, some of which may be negative. Push polling has been condemned by the American Association of Political Consultants. The Elections and Parties Series Democracy Representative democracy History of democracy Referenda Liberal democracy Representation Voting Voting systems Ideology Elections Elections by country Elections by calender Electoral systems Politics Politics by country Political campaigns Political science Political philosophy Related topics Political parties Parties by country Parties by name Parties by... A poll is either an election or a survey of a particular group. ... Negative campaigning is trying to win an election by attacking an opponent rather than emphasizing ones own positive attributes or policies. ... Political consulting is the business which has grown up around advising and assisting political campaigns, primarily in the United States. ...

The mildest forms of push polling are designed merely to remind voters of a particular issue. For instance, a push poll might ask respondents to rank candidates based on their support of abortion in order to get voters thinking about that issue.

More negative are attacks on another candidate by using polls. These attacks often contain information with little or no basis in fact.

True push polls tend to be very short, with only a handful of questions, so as to make as many calls as possible. The data obtained is discarded rather than analyzed. Any poll that does not ask demographic information – such as age, income, or race – is generally not a legitimate poll.

Perhaps the most famous alleged use of push polls is in the 2000 United States Republican Party primaries, when it was alleged that George W. Bush's campaign used push polling to torpedo the campaign of Senator John McCain. Voters in South Carolina reportedly were asked "Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?", an allegation that had no substance, but planted the idea of undisclosed allegations in the minds of thousands of primary voters. McCain and his wife had in fact adopted a Bangladeshi girl. George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the current President of the United States and former Governor of the State of Texas. ... John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is an American politician. ... State nickname: Palmetto State Other U.S. States Capital Columbia Largest city Columbia Governor Mark Sanford (R) Official languages English Area 82,965 km² (40th)  - Land 78,051 km²  - Water 4,915 km² (6%) Population (2000)  - Population {{{2000Pop}}} (26th)  - Density 51. ... Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth parents. ...

The main advantage of push polls is that they are an effective way of maligning an opponent ("pushing" voters away) while avoiding responsibility for the distorted or false information used in the push poll. They are risky for the same reason: if credible evidence emerges that the polls were ordered by a campaign, it would do serious damage to that campaign. Push polls are also relatively expensive, having a far higher cost per voter than radio or television commercials. Thus push polls are most effective in elections with fewer voters, such as party primaries, or in close elections where a relatively small change in votes can mean victory or loss.

References

• Warning from the National Council on Public Polls

See also

• List of democracy and elections-related topics