Polling People Questions Political Push Pollsters Candidate Number

Some political campaigns use "questionable" (in doubt; controversial; not fully accepted) "tactics" (ways to do something) to "sway" (influence; persuade; change the opinions of) voters. "Push polling" is one of those questionable tactics.

"Polling" or asking people to respond to a series of questions, usually over the phone, is "quite" (very) common during political campaigns. "Pollsters" (people who conduct polls) call people "randomly" (with everyone having an equal chance of being picked) to ask for their opinions about candidates and laws before an election. The pollsters analyze the results and "draw" (make; reach) conclusions about which candidate will win or whether a law will pass.

With "push polling," the pollsters are not trained in "quantitative analysis" (analyzing numerical data to reach a conclusion) and they "hardly" (barely; very little) look at the results of the poll. The questions are designed to sway potential voters through "innuendos" (things that are implied, but not stated clearly) and "leading questions" (questions that cause a person to want to reply in a particular way).

Push polling might involve a questions like, "If Candidate A had an 'affair' (sexual relations with someone outside of marriage), would that you make you more or less likely to vote for him/her?" Or, "Leading organizations like X, Y and Z have criticized Candidate A's position on B. Do you agree?"

Push polling also "differs" (is different) from scientific polling in that it usually involves a very large "sample size" (the number of people who are asked questions in a poll) and the number of questions is very small. That way, the pollsters can "maximize" (make as large as possible) the number of people whom they try to sway.