New Poll! Maybe just a bit pushy...

I had read about the robo-call anti-Matarrese push-poll making the rounds; I didn't get to hear it myself. But this evening, mere minutes ago, I got to participate in a call (made from a call center in Utah) about local politics. It was a bit more detailed, but I still think it had a "pushy" demeanor to it.

The caller asked for the male voter of the household. Interesting — the conductors of the poll (Hi, whoever you are!) are either trying to convince the men in the households, or maybe they are really want to find out what men in Alameda think about this.

After a bunch of basic questions, they got into the heart of the call. They asked for three priorities for the upcoming city council. They listed a number of choices. It was an interesting list, though by no means comprehensive. There were several choices that had to do with the running of city government (transparency, waste of taxpayer money on "witch-hunts," corruption in city hall, new jobs in Alameda, spending, etc.) but certainly there would be many possible priorities that some might have that were not listed in the choices, e.g. developing Alameda Point, improving our schools, solving transportation issues such as non-automotive access to Oakland for people on the West half of the island, and so forth.

One question went into great detail to mention the exoneration of Lena Tam by the District Attorney, asking if I was more favorable to her after hearing that she was declared innocent.

Finally, the pollster asked who I was planning on voting for in the local race. (I helped her pronounce "Matarrese" for the benefit of the next victim of her call!)

All in all, it certainly seemed less obnoxious and blatant than the annoying robo-call that was going around a few days ago. Whoever commissioned the call probably was trying to get a state of the campaigns, but also tried to make sure that people got the message out about Lena Tam's exoneration. Maybe they really were trying to see if knowledge of this would change people's minds enough.

In any case, I feel just a bit slimy from having gone through the poll. But I did it for both of you readers of this blog, so that you will be forewarned should your phone be the next to ring.