The “push poll” is an underhanded political tactic designed to evade campaign finance reporting laws. The Oxford Dictionary accurately describes a push poll as “an ostensible opinion poll in which the true objective is to sway voters using loaded or manipulative questions.” An example would be asking voters whether they would be inclined to support a certain candidate if they knew he was a child molester. There is no direct accusation, just a strong insinuation. Push polling expenditures are rarely reported under sunshine laws because they are falsely claimed to be mere polls. Loaded polls are clearly designed to influence elections. Failure to report them constitutes a violation of our campaign laws.
Unfortunately, boosters of school voucher schemes in Idaho have been using push polling to target legislative candidates who oppose using taxpayer money to subsidize private and religious education. Push polling was reportedly used in the May primary elections to target Republican incumbents who believed the use of public money for religious schools violated the Idaho Constitution (it does) and would harm funding for public schools (it would). Push polls generally cover a broader range of hot-button issues than the specific one of interest to the person or group paying for the poll. The objective is to defeat the target by any means.
Push polling has raised its ugly head in Idaho’s general election. Kathy Dawes, a respected educator and community member in District 6, has been targeted by JMC Analytics and Polling (JMC), a Louisiana company that has done work for the American Federation for Children (AFC). Incidentally, AFC is an out-of-state dark money outfit that dumped $400,000 into the May primary for the purpose of defeating reasonable Republicans who supported Idaho’s public school system.
The Dawes push poll asked a variety of hot-button issues, including whether the recipient would vote for her if they “knew that Kathy Dawes sides with radical special interests who support open border policies and raising taxes on Idahoans?” This is no objective poll. It is a clearcut effort to smear Dawes and, as such, is required to be reported under Idaho’s Sunshine Law. The push poll contains no disclosure. Dawes says the insinuations are dead wrong. She has reported the poll to the Secretary of State.
Mary Shea, a House candidate in District 29, was similarly smeared by a JMC push poll. Shea is an attorney who has a long-standing commitment to providing free legal assistance to needy Idahoans. Shea is a valuable member of Idaho Legal Aid Services, which I worked with closely as Chairman of the Idaho Pro Bono Commission during my service on the Supreme Court. Neither she, nor Idaho Legal Aid, support policies that “make our communities less safe and clean,” as the sleazy JMC push poll implies. Nor does she “want higher taxes and open borders.” The push poll targeting Shea does not have the disclaimer required by law.
Senator Rick Just, who is running for re-election in District 15, is also being smeared by a push poll. I’ve known Rick for decades. I can attest that the poll contains numerous contemptible lies, including that Rick supports “child gender mutilation surgeries” and “open borders” and “sexually explicit materials” in schools. It is not clear who circulated this poll, but this type of trash has no place in Idaho political campaigns.
It is likely that many other races are infected by similar push polls. When this kind of incendiary campaign fodder hits your media feed or mailbox, the best thing to do is check a reliable voter guide. Take Back Idaho has a non-partisan, even-handed voter guide at idahovoters.com that can separate the wheat from the chaff. Knowing the facts about these candidates, and that the objective of AFC is to defeat them in hopes of getting state money into the hands of religious schools, I’d give whole-hearted support to all three, as well as their like-minded compatriots.
