[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 8, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E15]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          INTRODUCTION OF THE PUSH POLL DISCLOSURE ACT OF 2003

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                          HON. THOMAS E. PETRI

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 7, 2003

  Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing legislation to 
increase the disclosure requirements for telephone ``push polls.'' As 
many candidates for public office have learned through personal 
experience, these push polls are not legitimate telephone surveys, but 
campaign devices designed to smear a candidate under the guise of a 
standard opinion poll.
  Imagine a voter, who has been identified as a supporter of candidate 
X, being asked in a survey if this support would continue if it was 
learned that candidate X was guilty of a terrible indiscretion or an 
outright crime. It doesn't matter whether the allegations are true 
because the idea that candidate X is somehow unfit for office has been 
planted successfully. This is a telephone push poll.
  My legislation, the Push Poll Disclosure Act of 2003, requires that 
each participant in a poll conducted for a candidate for a Federal 
office seeking the opinion of more that 1,200 households be told the 
identity of the survey's sponsor, It also requires further disclosures 
when a survey's results are not to be released to the public. In this 
case, the cost of the poll and the sources of its funding must be 
reported to the Federal Election Commission, along with a count of the 
households contacted and a transcript of the questions asked.
  The Push Poll Disclosure Act of 2003 is a simple bill. It will not 
hinder the traditional use of polling, nor will it burden polling firms 
with excessive regulations. What this bill does do, however, is 
regulate push polls for what they are--campaign activities, and 
questionable ones at that. This legislation is noncontroversial and 
should be bipartisan, and its passage will make campaigns for Federal 
office a little bit cleaner.

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