Ping Quiksand: Push Poll in MD?

[dixieflatline]

I just got an email from a friend who took a job in MD about a month ago. She claims to have been push polled last night right after the debate. She was asked who she was going to vote for and after pressing the Kerry button she was then asked if she was aware that Kerry was going to raise taxes. She pushed the yes button then was asked if she knew that Kerry was going to weaken our defense against terror strikes. I don't mean to pull you into any political threads but I was curious if you, or ayone else in the area, had heard anything about push polls in the state last night?

[Wolfpack]

I know you targeted QS for this, but I'll butt in anyway....

I think more of this stuff goes on than people are aware of, usually because if people get such a thing, they aren't aware they are being push-polled.

I remember getting a phone call in 2000 and when I announced my intention to vote for Bush, the caller proceeded to go through a bunch of questions citing how Bush was going to negatively affect this or that about my life (mostly having to do with jobs and the economy, my hazy mind tries to recall). Each instance after citing a negative about Bush, I was prompted whether I would still vote for him. It wasn't until I hung up and thought about it that I realized I might have been push-polled. I ended up going to ABC's website and sending them a message to that effect and got a callback about it, but since I had no record of what was precisely said, I don't think they could have done anything with it were they inclined to do so.

So, I guess I should say that I wouldn't be surprised that it happened. There are a lot of people on the margins of both campaigns who are probably fudging with the rules a bit to get their guy to win.

[QuikSand]

I have not been called, and have not been the subject of a "push poll" in some time, but I do know they exist as a tactic, and it wouldn't come as a shock that one side or the other was using them.

There was a recent poll that suggested Maryland was suddenly "in play" for the prez election, after being all but written off as blue early on. I don't think that has been supported by anybody else's data -- and is probably in error -- but weird things might start happening around here if there's any sense that the GOP has a shot to deliver this state.

[dixieflatline]

Thanks for the info guys. I had seen several recent state polls that had shown MD closer than expected which, along with the source whom I trust, made me think this was happening. I haven't ever been push polled and I should add that in this case there wasn't a person on the other line just a computer.

[Celeval]

Nothing at our house either, fwiw.