CMOR Halts Push Poll Calls

A bill drafted by the Council for Marketing and Opinion Research (CMOR) to stop political persuasion calls (sometimes known as 'push polls') taking place in the state of Louisiana, has been passed by Governor Bobby Jindal.

Last month, the bill was passed by both the State House and Senate with unanimous approval.

Crafted by CMOR's Government Affairs experts, the law prohibits making any telephone call expressly advocating support or opposition of a candidate, elected public official or ballot proposition without identifying the source of the call. The law exempts legitimate survey and opinion research studies.

'Given the Louisiana legislature's previous attempt to combat push polls by requiring extensive and bias-inducing disclosures in telephone surveys, this is a special victory for the profession,' commented CMOR CEO Larry Brownell.

This is the first law in the United States to define and protect message testing in research. CMOR says it will also serve as a model law for researchers to use in promoting pro-active legislation at the grassroots level.

LaToya Lang, CMOR's State Legislative Director said that the bill would not have succeeded without the support of Jude Olinger, a member of CMOR's State Capital Network, and his work with State Representative Neil Abramson.

Non-profit CMOR promotes, advocates and protects the integrity of the survey and opinion research profession, and is on the web at www.cmor.org .

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