On another message board where people discuss Bristol politics, there's an interesting debate about whether the poll that Democratic mayoral candidate Ellen Zoppo did this spring should be made public.
I won't take a side, at least for the moment, but I would like to point out that there are places where polls done by candidates must be made public if they are ever mentioned during a campaign.
In New York State, where I once worked as a reporter, I was able to get copies of several internal campaign polls because candidates referred to them on the stump in some oblique way (i.e., "I'm doing particularly well among the independent voters"). Zoppo has stated things more directly than that.
The logic in New York -- and for all I know it is no longer the law -- was that polls that are used in any way to influence the electorate must be made public if done by candidates or political action committees.
New York is hardly the template for open, honest government, of course. But, then again, Connecticut hasn't exactly been a shining star in that regard in recent years.
For all I know, Zoppo would make her poll public if anyone asked. I haven't. I don't know that anyone else has.
But it does seem important to point out that it's not crystal clear that such things should be able to be withheld from the voting public. Nor is it clear that doing so would serve a candidate's interests. That point, however, is for Zoppo and her supporters to figure out.
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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
11 comments:
Interesting point, Steve. Keep it up.
I am sure alot of people would be interested in it but if her campaign paid for it then it belongs to her. I assume it was a real poll and not a bunch of her relatives calling off a list. I don't see Obama or Dodd releaseing their polls either
I think its whining from the other end about the unknown if she isn't sharing it with others - wouldn't you want to know what your numbers are? It must be killing the others to know (maybe) that some data exists and they don't know what it is. Did anyone get a call from a polling company?
My husband and I are both registered dems in the town. Neither one of us received a polling call and neither have any of the other dems we know, and we've asked quite a few.
If a candidate is going to use that information in their attempts to gain votes, we should be able to see the information ourselves to verify that what they are telling us is true. Don't tell me statistics if you aren't going to show me statistics. Don't tell me that your poll indicates that a percentage of the voting population wants something if you don't want to show me the results of the poll that made you say that. Show me the proof - don't just ask me to take your word for it.
in a city of 60,000 people, since you and your friends didn't receive a call from the poll, the only logical conclusion is that the poll is rigged and Ellen is being dishonest?
Polls use samples so its not logical to believe that every voter in town is going to get a call. And I bet she just didn't do Democrats. This is the equivalent of a service that she bought so why should she have to "share?" Other candidates should do their own polls.
There seems to be a misunderstanding of what "poll" means in this setting. Candidates do scientific polling to see how they are viewed by specific segments of the population, or to see what issues are important to likely voters, so they can tailor their campaign accordingly. They don't do it for vanity and they don't do it to be able to later say that "75% of Bristol residents support changing the city logo", because both would be a waste of money. They use it as a tool to get elected, not as a substitute for leadership after they're elected.
I agree - I didn't recieve a poll call or my husband and we are Dems too. Show me proof or shut up!
There aren't 60,000 voters in Bristol and the poll would only include registered voters.
Since she was aware that there would be a primary if she ran, she would need to include as many registered democrats as possible to get an accurate result.
There are only approximately 12,000 registered democrats in Bristol. Why weren't they all included in her poll?
"There are only approximately 12,000 registered democrats in Bristol. Why weren't they all included in her poll?" ARE YOU SERIOUS? PLEASE STOP BEFORE YOU HURT YOURSELF!
Call 12,000 people? Do you people read and does the term "scientific sample" mean anything to you? Polls are very expensive to do even for Bristol. That's why everyone does sampling. If Ellen is talking about certain issues repeatedly, there is your clue about what people said in response to the poll.
It isn't unheard of to call over half of a voting population to find out what they are thinking. It's actually quite common.
None of us know anything about Ellen's poll - what affiliations called, how many people total, what were the questions, what were the results. Speculation is all we have if information isn't offered or made available to us.
You really do seem to be getting way too upset over our comments - which are based off of lack of information. If you read them again, you will notice that most of them are question oriented.
"you people stop before you hurt yourselves" is the type of comment that makes people walk away from an issue. You need to remember that not everyone knows as much as you might when it comes to campaigning, Ellen or any other candidate.
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