Honest polling – or shady tactics? Those are the questions being asked of the Wildrose Party after a telephone “push-poll” they conducted was accused of being unfairly tailored to smearing premier-designate Alison Redford.
The survey, which got responses from 20,000 Albertans, includes two questions about Redford: the first about her reported support of a nationally-funded day-care program, the second regarding her chief of staff reportedly having outstanding debts. The poll then asks if that information changes the likelihood of supporting Redford as premier.
The pre-recorded survey doesn’t identify the Wildrose as being the organizers of the poll, and it wasn’t until political blogger David Climenhaga broke the story that the party owned up. In his blog, Climenhaga inferred the tactic is “unreasonable and unfair … totally unscientific and almost bizarrely biased.”
However, Shayne Saskiw, the Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills Wildrose candidate and newly appointed executive director for the party, told the Post these types of polls are common across the political landscape.
“It’s fair game,” he said, adding he doesn’t believe it was in fact a push poll.
(A push poll is defined by dictionary.com as “a seemingly unbiased telephone survey that is actually conducted by supporters of a particular candidate and disseminates negative information about an opponent.”)
Saskiw said the survey showed that Albertans “overwhelmingly disapprove” of Redford after hearing the two questions. He said the Wildrose will be using the results in the upcoming election, but won’t be releasing the information to the general public as it is an internal party poll.
Despite the backlash, Saskiw said he is simply glad that Albertans have received the Wildrose message.
“We’re not unhappy with the fact that people received our position on these issues,” he said. “We’re letting people know – the main point is to find out what Alberta thinks on these issues.”
A general election in Alberta is expected to take place in the first-half of 2012.
The questions:
As reported in the Globe and Mail, Premier Redford supported the Federal Liberals proposal to implement a multi-billion dollar national universal daycare program, and vocally opposed Prime Minister Harper's choice in childcare allowance for parents of children under the age of six. How does knowing this affect your likelihood of supporting Ms. Redford as Premier?As reported in the media, Premier Redford has appointed Steven Carter as her chief-of-staff, the top civil service position in the province. This appointment came after it was discovered that Mr. Carter's company is refusing to pay its creditors as mandated by several court judgments. How does knowing this affect your likelihood of supporting Ms. Redford as Premier?To listen to the whole survey, visit http://bit.ly/t1ntng
