Bloomberg's Controversial Phone Survey Targets Weiner

Mayor Bloomberg may be enjoying a comfortable lead in the polls, but that $80 million he plans to drop on his re-election campaign isn't going to spend itself. As Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause, tells the Times, "If you have too much money in your campaign, you don’t use it productively. He’s hired so many consultants who are looking for something to do." Like annoy New Yorkers with a telephone survey spreading innuendo about likely Democratic rival Anthony Weiner! The practice, known as "push-polling," is described by one of Weiner's advisers as, "one of the most discredited and dishonorable forms of negative campaigning."

In this case, voters who participated in the survey last month were asked questions designed to raise doubts about Weiner, including vague queries about his "association with European models." That question was a suggestive reference to Weiner's proposal to help foreign fashion models get work visas more easily. But Bloomerg's campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson (yep, he's baaack) tells the Times, "Unfortunately for Congressman Weiner, the fact that he takes money from lobbyists and special interests, misses votes and has not passed any significant legislation isn’t a push poll — it’s his record."

But former pollster Peter Feld says that while the survey may be negative, the calls didn’t go to nearly enough voters to make an impact. Rather, the questions were likely intended to gauge the potential effectiveness of negative messages. If so, Jeff Goldsmith, an undecided voter from Queens who got the call, has some feedback: "By the time I was through the entire poll, I thought it was ridiculous."