Opponents of New Hampshire push poll law find political ally

US— Opponents of a New Hampshire law that puts pollsters at risk of massive fines for asking questions about an election candidate’s “character, status, or political stance or record” have found a new ally – Representative David Bates.

The Marketing Research Association (MRA) reports that Bates contacted the organisation over the weekend “seeking our assistance in fixing his state’s misguided ‘push poll’ law”.

Push polls are campaign tactics masquerading as survey research and are designed to smear candidates by drawing attention to negative information about them.

New Hampshire’s law sought to bring this practice out into the open by requiring any person who engages in push-polling to disclose the sponsor of the call, but the MRA and the American Association of Political Consultants have long argued that the law is written so broad as to present a threat to legitimate survey research firms which don’t disclose their sponsors for fear of biasing effects.

Representative Bates is chairman of the New Hampshire House Election Committee. The MRA says that he “aims to amend the law to protect research”.

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Research Live is published by MRS.

The Market Research Society (MRS) exists to promote and protect the research sector, showcasing how research delivers impact for businesses and government.

Members of MRS enjoy many benefits including tailoured policy guidance, discounts on training and conferences, and access to member-only content.

For example, there's an archive of winning case studies from over a decade of MRS Awards.

Find out more about the benefits of joining MRS here.

0 Comments


Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Newsletter
Stay connected with the latest insights and trends...
Sign Up
Latest From MRS

Our latest training courses

Our new 2025 training programme is now launched as part of the development offered within the MRS Global Insight Academy

See all training

Specialist conferences

Our one-day conferences cover topics including CX and UX, Semiotics, B2B, Finance, AI and Leaders' Forums.

See all conferences

MRS reports on AI

MRS has published a three-part series on how generative AI is impacting the research sector, including synthetic respondents and challenges to adoption.

See the reports

Progress faster...
with MRS 
membership

Mentoring

CPD/recognition

Webinars

Codeline

Discounts