ADVOCATES FOR STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN
Advocates for Student Achievement

Poll Questions and Answers


Questions and Answers on the ASA Landscape Poll
Advocates for Student Achievement sponsored a poll in early January of 400 likely voters in the three Milwaukee school board districts with contested races in the April election. The poll was designed to assess voters concerns at the beginning of an election campaign, a so-called “landscape poll.” The pollsters concluded “voters are crying out for major change, not incremental tinkering, but wholesale change in the way MPS operates.” Because of the amount of disinformation about the poll we have decided to release the full poll results on our web site at asa-mke.org. Below are some questions and answers about the poll.

  • Who conducted the poll? ASA hired a reputable polling firm named Brilliant Corners. Brilliant Corners is a polling firm that has done work for major campaigns such as the Obama presidential campaign. As is typical in the polling industry, Brilliant Corners hired another firm, Parker Group, to do the actual interviews.
  • Who were surveyed? Four hundred people who had voted in at least two of the last four school board campaigns in three districts: the fourth on Milwaukee’s north side, the sixth on the west side, and the 7th on the southwest side. Thus about 133 voters were interviewed in each of the districts.
  • Did the poll misstate the truth? This charge was made in a press release by board president Peter Blewett. According to Blewett, the poll stated “that Blewett authorized Board Member Charlene Hardin to attend a personal trip with Board funds.” In fact, the poll never stated this. The closest match is question 27 which asks voters to respond to the following statement:

    Peter Blewett repeatedly put disgraced school board member Charlene Hardin in positions of responsibility, even while Hardin was wasting taxpayer money on out of state travel for conferences she never attended.

  • Was this question based on facts? Yes. Blewett appointed Hardin as the MPS representative to the public library board, as the representative to the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB), and as the board’s representative on the Title 1 council. Most federal money comes through Title 1. Even in the midst of the Philadelphia trip scandal, he attempted to re-appoint her to the WASB seat. Hardin was one of only three board members that Blewett appointed to the two most active school board committees. Blewett even created a new committee for Hardin to chair, Safety and Climate. While Blewett did not sign off on Hardin’s Philadelphia trip, he did approve many others, in at least one case after the trip had started, making Hardin the most-traveled board member (Blewett was number two).
  • Was this poll a “push poll”?  Blewett uses the word “push” six times in his press release, but he is wrong. Push polls have a very specific meaning: they are attempts to influence the voters under the guise of a poll. According to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), there are several tests that can be used to tell whether a poll is a push poll:
    • They use a very large sample size, more than the 400 to 1500 typical of legitimate polls. The ASA poll interview 400 people of whom only the 134 voted in the sixth district were asked the question quoted above.
    • They are short, asking only a handful of questions, so they can reach more voters. The ASA poll had 37 questions.
    • They do not ask for demographic data. The ASA survey had a series of demographic questions at the end.
  • Did the poll survey people outside Milwaukee? The sample was chosen from people who voted in the three districts. If they moved since voting, it is possible they would be called. However, the second question asked how likely the person was to vote in the upcoming Milwaukee school board election. If the answer was less than 50%, the interviewer was instructed to stop the interview. Thus someone living outside Milwaukee who said they intended to vote in the school board election would be expressing an intent to break the law.
  • Has ASA sponsored any other polls? No. One recent poll was sponsored by Citizens Action and aimed at helping Blewett. It is also likely that individual campaigns have made calls aimed at identifying their supporters.
  • Is ASA a pro-voucher and/or an anti-union group? No. ASA’s sole aim is to elect a strong school board. The most important job of the board elected in April is to choose a new superintendent. The present disarray on the board can only discourage strong candidates. While ASA is independent of other organizations, we believe we share a common interest in making MPS successful.