Zogby won’t duplicate Obama poll

Pollster John Zogby has rejected a conservative commentator’s offer to sponsor a poll to test the knowledge of people who voted for John McCain. The commentator was proposing to mirror a poll of Obama voters that caused a political uproar.

The results of the earlier poll had suggested that Obama supporters didn’t know what they were voting for.

John Ziegler, a Burbank-based documentary filmmaker, had commissioned the poll of 512 Obama voters. The results delighted the right and inflamed the left, drawing widespread coverage on the Web, cable news and radio.

Zogby International said in its summary of the results: “Just 2% of voters who supported Barack Obama on Election Day obtained perfect or near-perfect scores on a post election test which gauged their knowledge of statements and scandals associated with the presidential tickets during the campaign, a new Zogby International telephone poll shows.”

Ziegler posted the results at HowObamaGotElected.com.

John Zogby said in a statement defending the poll: “We reject the notion that this was a push poll because it very simply wasn't. … In this case, the respondents were given a full range of responses and were not pressured or influenced to respond in one way or another. This poll was not designed to hurt anyone, which is obvious as it was conducted after the election.”

Zogby told Politico in a telephone interview that the volume of reaction was in the top 10 percent he had received to his 24 years of polling.

This week, Ziegler proposed to pay for a similar poll of McCain voters. But Zogby told Politico he will not do the poll the same way.

“I am happy to do a poll of both Obama voters and McCain voters, with questions that I formulated and sponsored either by an objective third party or by someone on the left, in tandem with a John Ziegler on the right – but poll questions that have my signature,” Zogby said.

“I believe there was value in the poll we did,” Zogby added. “I also believe it was not our finest hour. This slipped through the cracks. It came out critical only of Obama voters.”

Ziegler had e-mailed Karen Scott, managing editor of Zogby International: “I am writing because there is great interest in commissioning the same poll of McCain voters and I have obtained the money to do so. If done right I think this can be a win/win for everyone. Please advise me as to the company's thinking on this.”

Scott e-mailed Ziegler in response: “Thank you for being in touch with us, I am sorry no one got back to you yesterday. Your request has been reviewed here at all levels and we are not interested in this project at this time.”

Ziegler told Politico: “I’m outraged. I find this amazing. There was nothing wrong with the original poll. I’m the exact same person I was last week. The left-wing blogosphere basically demanded this.”