GOP's misleading opinion poll
Toolbox
Published: September 29, 2005
This afternoon I received a call from someone who was calling "Republicans and independents" who voted in the last election with a survey commissioned by the Vermont GOP.
Question 1: "While it is fine to have a gadfly like Bernie Sanders in the House, since Vermont is such a small state, we must have real leadership in the Senate. Do you agree or disagree?"
When I agreed that we needed real leadership, I said that Bermie was more of a leader than Tarrant or Dubie.
The survey-taker thanked me for my time and said the survey was over. I engaged the woman (calling from a call center in Nebraska) in conversation and said that this was a way to take surveys that were guaranteed to give the desired result and were thus invalid. Her response was that it was only a job and she was following her instructions.
If the GOP is commissioning surveys like this and using them to provide statistics that say Vermonters support their policies, is it any surprise that they seem not to represent the views of independent Vermonters?
TONY GORDON
Marlboro
36