CMOR Wins Vote to Prohibit Push Polls

In the state of Louisiana, US, a bill to combat political persuasion calls ('political telemarketing' or 'push polls') drafted by the Council for Marketing and Opinion Research (CMOR) has passed both the State House and Senate with unanimous approval.

Earlier in the year, the Marketing Research Association warned against this political campaign technique, in which an organisation attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll.

Although still awaiting the signature of Governor Bobby Jindal, once authorized CMOR's bill will prohibit anyone from making a telephone call expressly advocating support or opposition of a candidate, elected public official or ballot proposition without identifying the source of that call.

In addition, the bill prohibits a person from making any call that states or implies that the caller represents any candidate, political committee, or any other person or organization unless that person or body has given specific approval in writing to the person paying for the call.

However, the bill specifically exempts legitimate survey and opinion research. As part of the proposal, identification is not required for any telephone call in which the caller is not being paid and the caller and respondent knew each other prior to the call. Identification is also not required for any information-collection call, which is part of a survey of fewer than 1,500 calls that average more than two minutes in duration.

CMOR is confident that the bill will serve as a model for other states seeking to combat push polling.

Commenting on the victory, CMOR's State Legislative Director LaToya Lang said: 'None of this would have been possible without the due diligence and support of Jude Olinger, a member of CMOR's grassroots State Capital Network, and his work with Neil Abramson, the bill's sponsor.'

Fines for violations of the ruling are not to exceed $2,500 for a first offense, or $5,000 for subsequent offenses.

Web site: www.cmor.org .

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