The practice of deceptive “push polling” has once again appeared in western Wisconsin, in the familiar spot of the state Assembly race between Steve Doyle and me.

“Push polling,” appears to be a standard telephone poll conducted by a professional organization. Usually hired by a political party or campaign, but not identifying themselves as such. The questions asked during the call quickly decline into deceptive and vicious, untrue claims about a particular candidate, designed to harm that person’s reputation.

West Salem resident Bob Minard received such a poll and is sounding the alarm for voters throughout the area to be aware of this dirty campaign tactic.

The poll questions often ask something like “would it affect your vote if you knew…” followed by a statement that leads you to believe a candidate has done something horrible or has extreme beliefs. The statements are not factual, but a hypothetical situation made up to skew perceptions of a candidate.

The calls are coming from phone number 608-806-8019 from a company called Dynata, although the incoming phone number may vary. This appears to be a legitimate polling firm that has been hired for a deceptive and dirty campaign trick, one that has been widely discredited and not seen for years, at least in the Coulee Region. But that changed last week.

“I realized right away that the questions they were asking were lies, just flat out lies. I assume someone supporting Steve Doyle is lying about his opponent, Ryan Huebsch to try to win this election. This is why people hate politics and politicians and it should stop,” Minard said. “How they worded the questions was really strange and made it sound like Ryan is a terrible person. But I’ve known Ryan for years. Many of us have. They were even asking questions lying about his dad, Mike, who served our area in the legislature and who I’ve known for over twenty years.”

I have never heard of this unjust campaign trick, but I’m hearing from others that they are getting these calls. It certainly has no place in Coulee Region elections.

Push polls first appeared in the La Crosse area around 2000 when one was recorded by the recipient, exposing its tactics. At that time, it was again a Democrat poll trying to discredit the Republican Assembly incumbent.