How do you persuade others to adopt your viewpoint? Throughout history, people have swayed friends, families, and even armies to champion causes. One tool for this is push polling—a tactic masquerading as research.

Push polls, unlike traditional polls, don’t collect unbiased opinions, their actual goal is to persuade people to adopt a specific belief. Some even use false statistics in push polls to sway people’s opinions and emotions. So many critics disagree with push polls because they seem to contradict the very essence of surveys and polls — to collect unbiased opinions.

In this article, we’ll explore how push polls work, why they spark ethical concerns, and more ethical alternatives.

What Is a Push Poll?

A push poll imposes an opinion on respondents. Unlike typical polls that want to collect every perspective to understand different views and why people have these different opinions, push polls deliberately steer people toward a specific viewpoint.

How Push Polls Work

The goal of a push poll is to shape opinions rather than record them. Here is how it works:

• Leading Questions: Instead of phrasing questions neutrally like “Do you support Candidate A?”, a push poll would ask, “Would you support Candidate A if you knew they increased tuition fee by 250%, making tertiary education unaffordable?”  
• False or Misleading Claims: Some push polls not only steer opinions but also include outright lies (e.g., “Did you know Candidate B embezzled funds while serving as governor?”)—even if there is no evidence that suggests the candidate did it.
• Emotional Manipulation: Some push polls also frame their questions to provoke fear or outrage (e.g., *”How concerned are you that building factory will contaminate the rural water supply” 
• Poor Sampling: Because these “polls” are not research-driven, they often contact large numbers of people rapidly, disregarding proper sampling methods to maximize the spread of their misleading message.  

Common Use Cases

Push polls are commonly used in:  

• Political Campaigns: Campaign teams use push polls to smear opponents by planting doubts or false narratives in the minds of voters.
• Marketing & Advertising: Businesses use push polls to discredit competitors or promote their products as a better alternative. For example, people can lie about how many people use their products, shifting the data in their favor to sway potential users (e.g., “Did you know that 87% of women in the UK have used XY supplement for over 5 years with rarely any negative side effect?”)
• Corporate Influence: To shape public perception of policies or controversies (e.g., lobbying efforts).  

How Do Push Polls Differ from Legitimate Surveys?

Unlike legitimate polls—push polls blur the line between research and propaganda, making them a controversial and often unethical tool in shaping opinions. Here are some differences to help you differentiate push polls from typical polls:

• Intent: The end goal of real surveys is to collect data or feedback, and understand the reason behind these data or see a pattern. Push polls are created to persuade people to believe a certain perspective and shift public opinion to favor the person or organization that created them.
• Sample Size: Because the end of push polls is to push a certain narrative, push poll creators do not make an effort to get a representative sample, instead they typically use massive outreach leading to sampling bias.
• Question Structure: Push polls have no intention of collecting unbiased opinions, so their questions are typically leading and loaded questions designed to evoke strong emotions.
• Data Collection: Unlike typical surveys, push polls hardly publish their results, instead they push the narrative they want to push and stop there because that is their goal, not research.

Why Are Push Polls Controversial?

Push polls spark significant controversy because they distort democratic processes, spread misinfor

mation, and undermine trust in legitimate polling. Here’s how they work:

1. They Deliberately Spread Misinformation

Instead of asking questions directly push polls include false or misleading claims disguised as survey questions. For example:

• “Would you still vote for Candidate X if you knew they accepted bribes?” (even if no evidence exists).
• “Are you aware that Product A has no significant benefit for your health?” (based on exaggerated or fabricated data).

Planting these ideas in people’s minds starts shaping their opinions against the people, organization, or products even without evidence.

2. They Undermine Fair Elections & Democratic Debate

Push polls in politics smear opponents’ reputations and perceptions without accountability. Since they’re framed as polls recipients may assume the claims are true, giving unfair advantages to campaigns that use them. 

3. They Violate Ethical Research Standards

Traditional polling follows scientific methods (random sampling, neutral wording) to ensure accuracy and reliability. Push polls ignore these standards by using leading and double-barreled questions to push an agenda. They also prioritize persuasion over data collection.

4. Legal & Regulatory Gray Areas

While some countries regulate push polling, enforcing them is not the easiest thing to do. People still find loopholes to use push polls e.g. people classify them as “messaging” rather than polls. Also, most push polls have sponsors pushing an agenda against a person or an organization with misrepresented facts leading to unfair defamation.

Real-Life Examples of Push Polls in Action

The following are examples of real-life push polls and the result:

1. 2000 U.S. Republican Primary (John McCain vs. George W. Bush)

Bush supporters allegedly conducted push polls in South Carolina, asking voters: Would you still support McCain if you knew he fathered an illegitimate Black child?” (referencing his adopted Bangladeshi daughter). The racially charged false insinuation damaged McCain’s campaign.

Outcome: There were no formal penalties, but the tactic became infamous. McCain also later called such polls as libel.

2. 2003 Microsoft vs. Linux (Get the Facts Campaign)

Microsoft funded biased “studies” and polls claiming Linux was more expensive than Windows. Critics argued the surveys used biased samples and misleading comparisons.

Outcome: Backfired; the campaign was seen as anti-competitive and was dropped.

3. Australia’s 2019 “Death Tax” Push Poll

The Liberal party used push polls to falsely claim the opposition would introduce a “death tax” on inheritances. There were social media polls and calls that asked: “How concerned are you about Labor’s new death tax?” when, in fact, the policy did not exist.

• Outcome: The false news spread and became a theme topic during the election.

How to Spot a Push Poll

Push polls can be difficult to spot because they’re designed to mimic legitimate surveys. However, several red flags can help you spot push polls. Let’s talk about them:

Key Red Flags of a Push Poll.

• Leading or Loaded Questions

Push polls use emotionally charged or biased language to sway opinions rather than gather honest responses. For example, asking “Would you be less likely to vote for Senator Smith if you knew she voted to defund the police, putting your family at risk?” when there’s actually no evidence of the candidate’s intent.

• Overly Negative or Positive Framing

If questions only highlight extreme negatives about one side or glowingly praise another, it’s likely a push poll. For example, asking “How impressed are you by CEO Johnson’s revolutionary new policy that experts say will save the economy?” (This is promotional, not neutral.)

• No Demographic or Follow-Up Questions

Legitimate polls ask about age, location, or voting history to ensure a representative sample. Push polls skip these because they’re not analyzing data—just pushing a message.

• No Disclosure of Sponsorship

Ethical pollsters disclose the survey’s funding source (e.g., “This poll is conducted by XYZ Research for ABC News”. Push polls often hide their origins to push their agenda, making it difficult to identify who’s behind the campaign.

• Extremely Short or One-Sided Calls

If a “survey” lasts just a few questions and feels more like a scripted message than a real poll, it’s probably a push poll.

Tips to Avoid Falling for Push Polls

• Question the wording: Are the questions neutral, or designed to provoke a reaction?
• Research the source: If the pollster’s name isn’t provided or seems obscure, be skeptical.
• Check for analysis: Real polls publish results and methodology; push polls vanish after spreading their message.
• Be wary of “surveys” that feel like ads: If it sounds like it’s selling you something (a candidate, policy, or product), it’s likely a push poll.

Are Push Polls Illegal?

Regulations vary globally. Here’s a regional breakdown:

• United States (Generally Legal, but Restricted in Some States)

Push polls are not federally banned, as they’re often classified as “political messaging” rather than legitimate surveys. However, some states, like New Hampshire, have laws requiring disclosure if a call includes negative statements about a candidate.

• European Union (Varies by Country)

Some European countries like Germany, have strict truth-in-advertising laws that could apply to deceptive polling. The European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR) sets ethical standards, but enforcement depends on local laws.

How Watchdogs Combat Push Polls

Since legal consequences are inconsistent, independent organizations and media watchdogs play a key role in exposing push polls:

• Fact-Checking & Media Scrutiny: Outlets like PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, and The Washington Post’s Fact Checker analyze suspicious polls and debunk false claims. Also, journalists investigate who funds push polls to reveal hidden agendas.
• Polling Industry Self-Regulation: Reputable pollsters (e.g., Gallup, Pew Research) follow transparency standards, distinguishing them from manipulative push polls. Organizations like the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) also condemn deceptive practices.
• Public Awareness Campaigns: NGOs and election commissions educate voters on how to spot push polls and report suspicious activity.

Alternatives to Push Polls

Here are credible alternatives for measuring and influencing public opinion without resorting to manipulation.

1. Traditional Opinion Polls: They are designed to measure opinions not change them. They also use neutral wording, random sampling, and transparent survey methods. They enable you to gauge public sentiment on policies, candidates, or products and are typically conducted by media outlets, academic research, and campaign strategy.
2. Focus Groups: This includes small diverse groups to discuss topics and viewpoints as well as understand why people hold certain views. Some moderators ask open-ended questions to explore attitudes. You can use this to test your poll messaging before public campaigns to ensure you are asking the right questions with the right tone.
3. Deliberative Polling: Participants receive balanced information before answering questions about products, candidates, or companies. This ensures people form their opinions based on facts.
4. Benchmark Surveys: This helps measure opinion shifts over time (e.g., pre- and post-campaign). It helps you measure how well your ads or speeches were able to persuade your target audience and compare the shifts in sentiment after exposure to facts.

Best For:

5. A/B Testing:  This helps you to test two versions of a message to see which resonates more with your target audience. Instead of using defamation and deception, you use data-driven feedback to understand your audience, engage them, and achieve your campaign goal.
6. Social Listening & Sentiment Analysis: This helps you analyze organic online discussions (Twitter, forums, etc.). It allows you to track reactions to events or policies in real-time and know when to pivot in your campaign.

Conclusion

Push polls don’t gather opinions—they advance a narrative, leading to biased responses and even tainted opinions of people and organizations. They are also very controversial because of the downsides that follow them including misleading people and building distrust for surveys and polls.

We hope this guide helps you avoid push polls and helps you create polls that truly reflect the opinions of the respondents. Start building better polls with Formplus.