MRA Warns against Bogus US 'Pollsters'

As the Presidential primary elections hot up, the US industry association MRA is warning against 'push polling', a political campaign technique in which an organisation attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll.

MRA (Marketing Research Association) describes this as 'political telemarketing' and says that the general public and targeted candidates are increasingly irritated by the practice, which often includes derogatory and damaging statements about a candidate.

However, MRA Executive Director Larry Brownell clarified that not all calls containing negative information are push polls. 'Researchers and political campaigns often test the effectiveness of possible messages about opponents and even themselves,' he said. 'That's legitimate surveying, and citizens should feel confident about participating in such efforts.'

Both the MRA and the AAPOR (American Association for Public Opinion Research) have designed pointers to help voters spot the difference between legitimate polls/message testing and push polls:

1. Legitimate polls are usually longer than five minutes, whereas push polls last between thirty and sixty seconds
2. Genuine organisations or call centres disclose the name of the firm conducting the interview, while telemarketing firms may not identify themselves or use a false name
3. Research or polling firms neither support nor oppose a candidate or issue, where phony pollsters actively try to persuade people.

Previous US political campaigns have included the use of 'robocalls', where an automated voice misleads the respondent to believe the call is from a legitimate source, and then asks controversial questions designed to guide participants towards a specific candidate.

Earlier this month, the AAPOR formed a committee to review the polls which failed to predict Hillary Clinton's win in the New Hampshire election (www.mrweb.com/drno/news7809.htm ).

The associations are on the web at www.mra-net.org and www.aapor.org.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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