Statchen accuses Somers campaign of ‘push polling’

He says they’re using deception to label him as ‘radical’; they say it’s a traditional survey

“Polling is supposed to be neutral; it’s not supposed to be a marketing pitch. It’s supposed to be about gathering information, not persuasion. It’s an illegitimate technique. At some point, it becomes fraud.”

BILL STERNBERG, STONINGTON DEMOCRATIC TOWN COMMITTEE MEMBER

Bob Statchen, the Stonington Democrat attempting for a second time to unseat Republican state Sen. Heather Somers of Groton, says the incumbent’s campaign has been employing a deceptive technique known as “push polling” that repeatedly refers to him as “Radical Bob Statchen,” a nickname first hung on him in 2018.

A spokesman for the Somers campaign denied Statchen’s claim, insisting automated polling by Central Market Research, a political polling company, was “a traditional survey” that sought to determine where voters stand “on a wide range of issues ...”

“The survey found Heather’s record of delivering results for eastern Connecticut, challenging the status quo in Hartford and leading through the pandemic to support a safe and swift recovery continues to resonate with voters and places her in a strong position to be reelected headed into November,” the spokesman, Jon Conradi, said in a statement.

In politics, push polling is broadly defined as asking questions intended to influence voters while pretend

ing to take an opinion poll.

Several Statchen supporters who fielded a Central Market Research call last week described it as starting out like a typical survey, with questions about demographics, before changing tone and eventually promoting Somers over Statchen while distorting both candidates’ positions. They said the call asked them to indicate their preferences by pressing the numbers on the phone keypad.

“If they’re saying it’s traditional polling, they’re lying,” said Bill Sternberg, a Stonington Democratic Town Committee member who took the call. “Polling is supposed to be neutral; it’s not supposed to be a marketing pitch. It’s supposed to be about gathering information, not persuasion. It’s an illegitimate technique. At some point, it becomes fraud.”

Richard Dixon of Old Mystic, a registered Democrat whose wife, Anne-Marie Foster, is the Statchen campaign’s treasurer, said he got one of the calls months ago and then another one last week that started out “sounding legitimate,” asking who he supported in the presidential election and “general questions about issues.”

By the time the automated voice got to specifics about Somers and Statchen, the questions were “very loaded,” Dixon said.

He said the local questions pertained to mail voting and health care, “completely misstating Statchen’s positions” by saying Statchen supports universal health care and favors allowing illegal aliens to vote, and repeatedly referring to the candidate as “Radical Bob Statchen.”

“It was clearly a push poll,” Dixon said.

Statchen, who said he has asked supporters to record the call, has not heard it himself. But he said the way it’s been described to him suggests its messaging matches what his opponent’s supporters have been saying about him since 2018, when he challenged Somers the first time.

“It’s right out of the Republican Party playbook,” he said.

In the 2018 election, Somers garnered nearly 55% of the vote in the 18th Senate District, which comprises Griswold, Groton, North Stonington, Plainfield, Preston, Sterling, Stonington and Voluntown.

Campaign releases some results

Conradi released details of last week’s polling that he said “clearly demonstrate it was a traditional survey, not some kind of ‘push poll.’”

The survey was conducted last Wednesday and Thursday, and 458 likely voters participated, he said. The survey was weighted to match the expected turnout demographics in the 2020 election, and it has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.7%.

“To put a fine point on it, anyone who says the poll was a ‘push poll’ either has no idea what they’re talking about, is laughably thinskinned and too much so to be a serious candidate for public office or is trying to mislead the public to push a false narrative,” he wrote in an email.

Conradi said only two of the more than 20 questions in the poll dealt with Statchen’s positions on key issues.

“If (Somers’) opponent is so unnerved by a few hundred voters being asked about two of his positions in a poll that he feels the need to cry dirty tricks, then maybe he is applying for the wrong job,” Conradi said.

He shared results of three of the survey’s questions:

Q: When thinking about the challenges facing Connecticut, do you believe the state should be more focused on fighting the coronavirus to save lives no matter what OR allowing people to get back to work as safely as possible?

A: Virus, 46%; Back to work, 41%; Not sure, 13%

Q: Do you generally approve or disapprove of the job being done by your local police department?

A: Approve, 84%; Disapprove, 7%; Not sure, 9%

Q: What issue is most important to you when casting your vote for Connecticut offices like state senator and state representative?

A: Coronavirus, 22%; Economy and jobs, 22%; Taxes, 9%; Health care, 8%; Education, 7%; Government spending, 4%; Pro-life and family issues, 4%; Immigration, 2%; National and homeland security, 2%; Agriculture issues, tariffs, and international relations, 2%; and Something else, 17%.