DDR polling?
I got the following email from a local resident:
"A Laytonville resident received a call Tuesday evening from a professional polling operation in Florida identified as "CVC Group." It was apparent from the questions that the poll was being conducted for DDR.
The resident was asked if she would participate in a survey related to the Masonite property development.
"The main thrust of the questions was to find out what she considered to be the most important issue in Mendocino County right now. A list of subjects was suggested, including schools, taxes, housing, and the need for more retail.
"The pollster asked again and again in different ways to probe what issues the resident thought were important, as though a list of political "hot buttons" was being assembled.
"There were a lot of questions about sales taxes revenue and the need to keep it local.
"She was asked what stores she would like to see at the Masonite site.
"She was asked if she knew what mixed use was and how she felt about putting it at Masonite.
"Other questions included party registration, where she put herself on a scale of liberal to conservative, education level, and how long she had lived in Mendocino County.
" There was one question about what she thought about housing development at Lover's Lane.
" Based on the resident's recollection of the poll, it didn't seem to be a "push poll" that tries to implant a viewpoint, as much as a real opinion poll that can be used to design a political campaign in favor of DDR....something like "approve DDR so we can fund schools and fix the roads."
"Folks should keep their ears open for other accounts of this poll, because it may be useful to spread awareness about it."
Has anyone else gotten a similar call?
Comments
We received two such calls from CVC this week, but I never participate in telephone surveys on principle (I despise telemarketers as well), so I can't comment on the questions as such. While it may not be a classic push poll, just asking the questions has an influence--it causes one to think about the issues, and as the old saying goes, "there's no such thing as 'bad publicity' as long as they spell your name correctly."
Posted by: Chris Warner-Carey | February 5, 2008 12:03 PM
I got one of these calls, but declined to participate in the survey, which was projected to take 13 minutes.
The would-be pollster couldn't or wouldn't say who was involved with "CVC Group", so I explained to him that local forces favoring conservation of rural values in land use probably couldn't afford to conduct such a survey . . .
Posted by: @T | February 5, 2008 12:26 PM
We received a call and my husband agreed to take the survey. Given his responses, I believe it was the same CVC Group. As with most surveys, it was fashioned to receive the answers they want.
Posted by: Gail Richards | February 6, 2008 02:50 PM