Interesting "Poll" phone call

Politics & Elections
1

I just got an interesting political “poll” phone call. I use quotes because I’m starting to think the questions were a little biased.

I’m in Texas, for reference, a state known for being solid red and MAGA catering.

It started with boilerplate about being a research group collecting data on opinions on topics affecting Texans. I wish I had caught the group to look it up.

At first was some generic boilerplate, then standard demographics. A bit of political demographics like party affiliation, voting frequency.

Next came a question about how much do I approve of how Trump is running the country.

Then started the suspicious questioning.

Even though I had identified as a Democrat, the questions were all prefaced about the Republican Party.

Also, they only pertained to candidates for Senator in the next election cycle. It asked how I felt Cornyn was doing, but not Cruz.

Then it asked about potential candidates for the Republicsn primary, John Cornyn, some House member, and Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Nothing egregious yet, but starting to suggest this isn’t some nonpartisan group, but maybe a Republican or conservative leaning group.

Then it got really fishy. The questions all started to be about Ken Paxton and whether he has been a good attorney general.

First question was prefaced by all the funding Paxton helped approve to help transgender and DEI groups, and asked if he had been a good steward of Texas taxpayers’ money. I said with that preface, yes.

Then the preface was about the criminal case against Paxton last year where he admitted fraud. Would this make me more or less likely to vote for him?

Then it prefaced that Paxton claims to be conservative Christian, but cheated on his wife, made up a fake name for an uber account, and got his mistress a job. Do I think this is very important, less important, or not important?

So basically, this feels like political propaganda aimed against Ken Paxton and pro-Cornyn being passed under the guise of a research poll to get around telemarketing restrictions. Very sleazy, if not a sleazy as Paxton.

Doesn’t affect my opinions in any way of either candidate. They are both trash Republicans, and Paxton is a morally bankrupt a corrupt one. Just a slimy operation.

2

That’s textbook push polling

3

I got one during the mayor’s race of my big but not very big town. I figured it out and answered in ways they weren’t expecting. Sleazy but common.

You should have said that you only vote for people who cheat on their wives. Tell them you voted for Trump, of course.
However any dirty tricks against that scum Paxton is not bad.

4

Thanks for that. I haven’t seen that technique yet, but that’s definitely it.

Well, I did say it only matters some, not a lot. I mean, it matters because he’s a conservative Christian pushing an agenda, so it’s hypocrisy, otherwise I wouldn’t care, not that the “poll” had room for elaborations.

I definitely made clear my disdain for Trump and Trump- supported candidates.

I did say Cornyn is doing a lousy job, but that I would vote for him over Paxton. Which is technically not a lie, but I have no intention of voting for either of those two, and won’t be voting in the Republican primary for sure.

5

Did your caller ID capture the phone number from which they (ostensibly) called? If so, you can probably do a reverse lookup and – maybe – figure out what group it was.