BAYSIDE residents took a step back in time this month when contacted by a polling firm canvassing their views on local MPs.
Voters were asked to rate the performance of previous MPs instead of current incumbents in an apparent bungle when drafting the questions for the “robocall” poll by ReachTel.
Carrum residents were asked to rate the performance of Donna Bauer, Mordialloc households were asked about Lorraine Wreford and Bentleigh voters faced questions about Elizabeth Miller.
All three former Liberal Party MPs lost their seats at the 2014 state election to Labor’s Sonya Kilkenny (Carrum), Tim Richardson (Mordialloc) and Nick Staikos (Bentleigh).
ReachTel services manager Nick Adams said the poll was privately commissioned and the company would not disclose the person or organisation that ordered the poll in the marginal sandbelt electorates for privacy reasons.
“That particular survey was privately commissioned but I can confirm ReachTel was conducting the research,” Mr Adams said.
“We rang a lot of people so there’s no denying that part of it.”
ReachTel regularly conducts polling on behalf of political parties and unions to gauge public sentiment about voting intentions
Market research is also often conducted for corporate firms.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 23 August 2017
