Legislators' surveys are not exactly unbiased

SALT LAKE CITY — If you get a survey in the mail, or an e-mail, from your legislator, take it with a grain of salt.

"It is not meant to be an accurate measure of the feelings of voters in (a) legislative district," says Dave Hansen, chairman of the Utah Republican Party, of the surveys for which his party is paying.

The Utah Democratic Party is also sending out pre-legislative session questionnaires but not as many as Republicans are. Survey questions may vary by GOP legislator, as each is individualized. The Democrats' surveys are all the same.

Both surveys may be called "slanted" by political opponents. The degree of objectivity in GOP surveys seen by the Deseret News varies greatly. (People can read, or even take, the Democratic survey at utahhousedemocrats.org.)

"You'll get from (Sen. Margaret Dayton's survey) exactly what she wants," said Senate Minority Leader Pat Jones, D-Holladay.

Jones is the wife of longtime professional pollster Dan Jones and is a partner in their marketing/survey company. Dan Jones & Associates has, under contract, done polling for the Deseret News and KSL-TV for 30 years.

No professional pollster would ever ask questions like some Republicans are if they wanted to measure real public opinion, Sen. Jones adds.

The Deseret News received a copy of a survey sent out by the state GOP for Sen. Dayton, R-Orem, and Rep. Keith Grover, R-Provo.

One question gives the flavor of the Dayton/Grover survey: "The state population has increased 27 percent in the last decade. The general fund (state budget) has increased 19 percent. The funding for education has increased 179 percent. Should we further increase education funding?"

The choices to respond are: "Yes," "No," and "If yes, by how much?"

While state public and higher education officials may question that 179 percent figure, clearly the question is worded to give a "no" answer, Sen. Jones said.

But Hansen makes no apologies, saying the GOP survey provides valuable information to Republican legislators, along with meeting other goals.

"It lets constituents know that their legislator cares about them, and cares about what they think," Hansen said.

It can be a valuable voter contact, with legislators following up a response to ask the constituent questions later, and recognize an interested citizen in their re-election campaign, he adds.

In fact, the state GOP only sends out these surveys in election years.