Push Poll Comes to Big Grove

I hadn’t received a push poll telephone call until yesterday. I participated in the whole thing, yet it was terrible. The pollster must have been seeking dim-witted jamokes to persuade voters of the efficacy of their chosen candidate, in this case Dawn Driscoll, who is running against Kevin Kinney for the Iowa Senate in District 46.

Driscoll did almost no visible campaigning before Labor Day. A few campaign signs appeared along major thoroughfares after that. She recently held an event with Governor Kim Reynolds and Congresswomen Mariannette Miller-Meeks. If her campaign begins with a push poll, there is no telling how much mudslinging there will be from Republicans before the Nov. 8 election.

“A push poll is an interactive marketing technique, most commonly employed during political campaigning, in which an individual or organization attempts to manipulate or alter prospective voters’ views under the guise of conducting an opinion poll,” according to Wikipedia. The key word here is “manipulate.” This poll attempted to manipulate me by misrepresenting Kinney’s positions. Because I know better, the sole alteration of my views of the campaigns was to reaffirm support for him.

I’ve been represented by Democrats in the Iowa Senate since we moved here, notably with the long tenure of Senator Bob Dvorsky (1993-2018), followed by Zach Wahls (2019-present) after Dvorsky’s retirement. It is only with the recently completed decennial redistricting we have to contemplate a Republican representing us. While the urban centers in the county remain strongly Democratic, Republicans have been able to peel off a few precincts around the central cities.

The contest with a new district that leans Republican is proving to be the worst of modern politics for regular voters like me. Push polling is just the tip of the iceberg of the Republican threat.