Westmoreland, Glenn campaigns at odds over poll (Ga-8th)

Macon Telegraph ^ | Wed, Jul. 28, 2004 | Don Schanche Jr

[Amish]

Westmoreland, Glenn campaigns at odds over poll

By Don Schanche Jr.

Telegraph Staff Writer

Eighth District congressional candidate Lynn Westmoreland released a poll Tuesday showing he commands a majority over Dylan Glenn, but Glenn's campaign said it received complaints from voters who felt they had been targeted by a "push poll."

Two of those voters told The Telegraph they were angered by questions that appeared to be intended to sway their votes, rather than seek their opinion.

"They were trying to influence my vote. There's no doubt in my mind," said Newton County resident Denese Rogers.

She said she was especially offended when the pollster introduced Glenn's race into the survey.

Glenn is black, and Westmoreland is white. They are headed into an Aug. 10 runoff because neither won a majority in last week's GOP primary in the west Georgia district. Westmoreland won nearly 46 percent, and Glenn was just shy of 38 percent.

Westmoreland's poll, conducted by the Republican polling firm Public Opinion Strategies, showed Westmoreland with 51 percent, Glenn with 40 percent, and 9 percent undecided. Westmoreland had 92 percent name recognition - 64 percent favorable, 7 percent unfavorable - to 79 percent recognition for Glenn, with 55 percent favorable and 3 percent unfavorable.

A memo from POS partner Glenn Bolger said, "Expect Dylan Glenn to go negative, because he has to take votes away from Westmoreland to win."

The survey of 300 likely Republican voters was conducted last Wednesday and Thursday.

Steve Butler, Glenn's campaign manager, said that based on complaints his campaign received from voters, someone conducted a push poll in the district those two days. He did not accuse Westmoreland's campaign or Public Opinion Strategies of being responsible, but he said the timing is curious.

"The time and dates when this (Westmoreland) poll was done was at the same time we received complaints about the push poll," he said. "It leaves one to wonder."

Officials with the polling firm and the Westmoreland campaign acknowledged asking pointed questions in the survey, but emphatically denied that theirs was a push poll. They said the questions were designed to test name recognition and help the campaign decide how to respond to negative charges that might arise in the race.

Bolger acknowledged that one of the questions in the POS survey included a reference to Glenn's race.

Among those who complained to the Glenn campaign were Rockdale County business owner Steve Hatch and Rogers, a Newton County social agency director.

Both said the some of the questions began with "Would you vote for Dylan Glenn if you knew..." and went on to raise questions about his residency in the district and his involvement with a south Georgia charity.

Hatch said he grew angry and hung up before the survey was finished.

Rogers, who completed the survey, said the pollster mentioned that Glenn is single and African-American, and contrasted him with Westmoreland who is married and has children. She also said the pollster called Glenn a "carpetbagger." Rogers said she was not a Westmoreland supporter even before the poll, but that it turned her further against him.

"I said, 'Wait a minute, this is really nasty,' " she said.

[JohnnyZ]

The percentages in the poll are well within the margin of what one would expect given the first round, but I wonder if this issue will hurt Westmoreland ... well played by the Glenn camp, getting a nice writeup of this, I must say.

Glenn is a strong and smart campaigner, and I'm not about to bet against him in the runoff.

[Meldrim]

I know Westmoreland is proabortion: what other views does she share with Mr. Isakson?

[JohnnyZ]

I'm pretty sure Westmoreland is pro-life; and Lynn is a he.