By Brittany Jensen

The truth behind the alleged push-polls conducted in New Hampshire has slowly been unraveling, but the outcome is still uncertain.

The controversy arose when some of the people who had been called to participate in the polls felt some of the material contained in the survey, particularly questions asking about Mitt Romney’s religion and the subsequent positive questions about John McCain, were illegal according to New Hampshire law. Romney’s and McCain’s campaign teams both contacted the New Hampshire attorney general to investigate and make sure no laws were broken.

Moore Information, an opinion research company, hired a local survey data collection agency, Western Wats, to conduct the poll in New Hampshire last November. Push-polls are illegal in New Hampshire, unless it relates to a presidential primary. The company that conducted the poll, Moore Information, said it has never conducted push-polls and the research it gathered was only for the primary and not for the general election.

Jeff Welch, president of Western Wats, said there are striking differences between the research they collected and the definition of a push-poll. Push-polls tend to be only a couple of minutes and keep it short so they can contact as many people as possible.

“In our industry we despise that,” Welch said. “It gives us a bad name. It’s unfortunate that it gets confused with legitimate survey research.”

The survey in question was 20 minutes in length and had a sample of 400 people.

The survey contains questions (see adjacent box) which many believe could pertain to the general election eventually.

The attorney general office of New Hampshire had to subpoena Moore Information for him to hand over the script and the attorney general’s office is now hoping to find who initially hired Moore to do the study. They believe if they know the person who hired Moore to conduct the poll, they will know for sure if it was information gathered for a primary or the general election. A grand jury was rumored to be held last Friday, but the matter is private and thus, the attorney general’s office can’t comment.

According to The Oregonian, Moore’s lawyer, Terrence Kay, said a candidate, political party, political action committee or any other type of group of that nature hired Moore for the poll.

New Hampshire law states a survey isn’t a push-poll as long as it identifies a party, candidate or interest group the data is being collected in behalf of, even if the survey asks questions about specific candidates. Assistant attorney general of New Hampshire, Jim Kennedy, said this survey never identified a person who sponsored the poll.

Despite Moore Information and Western Wats’ claims that they did nothing illegal, the investigation is ongoing.

“We’re moving this investigation forward on the basis that there’s been a violation of our push polling statute,” Kennedy said.

Former employees of Western Wats both said they never recalled ever doing a survey where they had to disclose the name of the sponsor.

“A lot of it was the type of surveys that we didn’t want the people knowing who we were calling on behalf of,” said Reed Belliston, a current BYU student who worked for Western Wats through high school.

Welch said Western Wats clients are responsible for researching and providing their company with a scientific survey script which adheres to all the laws of a state they’re asked to make the phone calls to.

The fact that Welch donated $500 to Romney’s campaign has also caused people to speculate whether it was Romney who hired Moore Information to conduct the survey.

“A neighbor walked over and knocked on my door and asked me to contribute to the campaign and so I did,” Welch said. “We do that as private individuals as we see fit.”

McCain’s campaign also accused Romney of being behind the poll, something his campaign manager, Beth Myers, quickly denied.

“The Romney campaign had nothing to do with these alleged push polling calls,” Myers said. “It is reckless, irresponsible and egregious for the McCain campaign to even mention the Romney campaign in relation to these calls.”

The blogging world has subsequently erupted into everyone doing their own research in hopes of trying to pin the phone calls onto some campaign. Many people believe a Republican is behind it due to Moore Information’s long client list of republican groups, candidates and the like. Other conspiracy theorists think it’s a sinister plot by the Democrats to disguise their trickery by choosing a polling company known for its Republican ties.

Jeff Mapes, a reporter for The Oregonian, has posted information he has discovered on his own blog and his readers and long-time Oregon residents have led him to discover a former allegation against Moore Information in 1990 for the same type of problem.

Kay, Moore’s lawyer, insists there’s nothing illegal to investigate and believes New Hampshire’s attorney general, Kelly A. Ayote, is continuing the investigation more for personal reasons. Ayote is known to be a Republican.

“It is unfair and disturbing that the New Hampshire attorney general's office is more interested in playing politics than in objectively reviewing the merits of the case,” Kay said.

Alleged Push-Poll Questions:

The following questions were asked in a poll conducted in New Hampshire before the November primary:

Q20: Next, Mitt Romney is a member of the Mormon Church. Mormons believe the Book of Mormon is more correct than the Bible. Mormons claim the Book of Mormon was given to a prophet in the 1800's by the Angel Moroni. On any given day, the Mormon Church is working to baptize thousands of people who have already passed away so they can be converted to Mormonism and join in the Glory of God.

Based on this, would you agree or disagree with those who say the Mormon Church is a cult religion not in the American tradition? IF AGREE/DISAGREE: and would that be strongly or just somewhat agree/disagree?

Here are some statements about Mitt Romney. After hearing each, please tell me if you are more likely or less likely to vote for Romney for President. IF MORE/LESS LIKELY: Is that much more/less likely or somewhat more/less likely?

Q30: Romney is a member of the Mormon Church. The Church did not allow African Americans to be priests before 1978.

Q31: According to a 2007 Boston Globe story, Romney has not served in the U.S. Military. Instead, while many people his age went to Vietnam, the Mormon Church got him a deferment so he could be a Mormon missionary in France. After returning from France he got a student deferment so he avoided military service all together.

Q32: Romney's five sons have never served in the military. During a recent campaign event, Romney was quoted as saying that working in his presidential campaign is the same as serving in the military.

Q35: Romney is a member of the Mormon Church. Mormons believe the Book of Mormon is more correct than the Bible.

Q44: Opponents of Mitt Romney say that Romney not only does not have the courage of his convictions, but changes his positions to suit whatever office he is currently running for. In a time when America needs a strong, courageous leader to fight global terror, Romney's lack of real convictions and political opportunism means he is the wrong choice for President and someone we can't trust as Commander in Chief.

Q45: Opponents of Mitt Romney say he lacks real American values and a true commitment to America. He got the Mormon Church to use their influence to avoid military service during Vietnam. When asked why none of his five sons were willing to serve in the military like John McCain's sons, Romney said with a straight face that they were serving the country by trying to get him elected President. Anyone who would tell us that working on a political campaign is the equal to service their country in a uniform and risking their lives does not understand what this country is about. Romney is the wrong choice to be Commander in Chief.



Copyright Brigham Young University 11 Feb 2008