Hostettler campaign dismisses ISU poll

By Austin Arceo
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE September 26, 2006 11:30 pm

— A member of U.S. Rep. John Hostettler’s re-election campaign dismissed a poll conducted by Indiana State University that showed the Republican incumbent trailing his Democratic challenger by more than 15 points.
The poll, commissioned by the Evansville Courier & Press newspaper, indicated that more than 47 percent of 602 registered voters polled within the 8th District preferred Democrat Brad Ellsworth, compared with a reported 31.8 percent for Hostettler.
Stan Barringer, the Hostettler campaign’s research director, noted that the Courier & Press refused to release the questions asked to respondents when the poll was conducted between Sept. 6-21. He added that Hostettler’s campaign office has received calls from poll respondents concerned with the questions.
“Well, it makes a big difference [in the poll’s viability] because the Courier is claiming this is not a ‘push’ poll, which is a method of polling that [asks] forceful, opinionated questions,” Barringer said, “but stories we’ve heard by people who were polled by Indiana State were that some of the questions were forceful.”
But J. Bruce Baumann, editor for the Courier & Press, said that the Evansville newspaper did not release the questions because the newspaper is writing articles on people’s responses all week, and the newspaper did not want to “scoop themselves.”
He added that the questions were relatively straightforward. In a question for the poll on people’s responses to terrorism as a political issue, Baumann said that respondents replied to the statement, “A candidate’s view on fighting terrorism at home is:” by choosing one of five answers that ranged from “very important” to “not at all important” as a reason to vote for Ellsworth or Hostettler. Fourteen people out of 602 said they didn’t know or refused to answer, which were not listed options to respondents.
Baumann added that another statement poll respondents replied to was, “A candidate’s view on fighting terrorism abroad is:” with five choices ranging from “very important” to “not at all important.”
“We’ve got nothing to hide here,” Baumann said. “We’re very concerned about what the voters are thinking about.”
While Barringer questioned the methodologies of the ISU poll, he referenced two different polls — a WISH-TV Indiana poll and a poll conducted by Majority Watch — as more “viable” polls, since both polls have released “all the relevant information.” The polls indicated a much smaller lead for Ellsworth, who is Vanderburgh County sheriff.
Barringer noted that, in both polls, Ellsworth’s lead was greater than the polls’ margin of error.
Matt Weisman, the communications director for Ellsworth’s campaign, said that the campaign does not comment on polls.
ISU political science professor James L. McDowell, who was not involved with the poll for the Courier & Press, noted that the margin between the two candidates is larger than expected, but many different things could happen before Election Day.
“I think the margin is going to be much closer than the poll indicates,” McDowell said, “but I don’t have a firm grip yet on what’s likely to happen six weeks from now.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Austin Arceo can be reached at (812) 231-4214 or austin.arceo@tribstar.com.