WARNING — Tempe Public Opinion Survey

originally published on Nextdoor. Written by Toby Duffell. Reproduced here with his permission.

Like others in the area, I received a text from “Ana” at Montana Research asking for my political views. It came from an 844 area code, which conceals the actual location, according to websites that discuss telemarketers. The questions seemed to be testing a marketing strategy as to how the respondent’s opinion could be changed in favor of having candidates represent fractions of Tempe, instead of all of it. The survey asked a question, then presented an opinion about breaking up the voter map, then asked the same question again. The cycle was repeated several times for different positions. Montana Research appears to be a shopfront for Change Research (see their Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.or/wiki/Change_Research) who present themselves as an agent to develop “winning strategies”. Like you, I imagine you are never troubled much about being asked to give your opinion. But like me, I imagine you do not care for being used as a marketing guinea pig under the guise of an opinion poll. To follow the money and find out if we Tempe taxpayers are paying for this I asked the Change Research. I will update if they reply, although this was four days ago. But it does seem that we are being tested for acceptance of a change in voter representation. If a Tempe politician is doing this it would seem more honest if they simply asked us outright. Also, if the Mayor or Councillor Jennifer Adams respond to this, perhaps they might advise if they are seeking to shape opinion, rather than measure it, and if Tempe taxpayer money is being used, and how much. Attached are some screen shots and excerpts. +++ Please note – This is not a partisan message of any kind. Instead a warning about a pollster not being what they might seem to be, trying to shine a light on the tactics used, who is employing them, and if we are unknowingly paying. +++