Group Uses "Push Poll" To Weaken Support For Rhode Island Sen. Chaffee Before Republican Primary

Common Sense 2006, an Ohio-based group "targeting candidates who support abortion rights," has launched a so-called "push poll" criticizing Sen. Lincoln Chafee's (R- R.I.) stance on abortion rights in an attempt to weaken his support before the state Republican primary on Tuesday, several voters in Rhode Island said, the AP/Eyewitness News reports. A push poll is designed to ask questions to reduce or increase support for a particular candidate, the AP/Eyewitness News reports. Several voters received automated phone calls asking which candidate -- Chafee, who supports abortion rights, or Senate candidate and Cranston, R.I., Mayor Stephen Laffey (R) -- they would vote for in the primary. People who said they would vote for Chafee "heard graphic descriptions of an abortion procedure opponents call 'partial-birth abortion,' which the poll said Chafee supports," according to AP/Eyewitness News. Laffey spokesperson Nachama Soloveichik said the campaign was not involved in the poll, and Common Sense 2006 has not commented. Common Sense 2006 also has launched negative TV ads against Ohio gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland (D), who supports abortion rights, AP/Eyewitness News reports (Johnson, AP/Eyewitness News, 9/7).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.