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Some fear new casino poll biased: But resort spokesman says survey will dispel doubts when released.
Mar 11, 2010 (The Evening Sun - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
A new poll commissioned by Mason Dixon Resort and Casino to measure support for a gambling venue in Gettysburg is drawing fire even before it has been released.
But a spokesman for the casino investors says the poll, to be released soon, is fair and will speak for itself.
Gettysburg resident Kay Glass said she got a call last week from a pollster asking questions about the casino. At first, she said, the questions seemed neutral enough. But then the surveyor asked her "if I would change my opinion if I knew it would create 500 new jobs. Or, if the preference went to Adams County contractors." By the end, she said, she got the impression she had taken a "push poll" -- one that is more concerned with changing the minds of respondents than measuring their opinions.
Glass said the pollster said the survey was being conducted by First Contact Inc. and G. Terry Madonna, a professor of Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College and a former pollster for The Philadelphia Daily News and Fox-29 TV.
"It's an absurd notion to question the credibility of Terry Madonna's firm," said David La Torre, a spokesperson for Gettysburg businessman David LeVan, who hopes to secure a license to open a gaming resort south of the Gettysburg battlefield. "He routinely polls for the largest newspapers and televisions stations in the state and is quoted as an expert."
Madonna said he couldn't comment on any poll -- that would be up to the client. But, he added, "I don't do push polling. Never have. Never will. I don't believe in it."
Even Susan Star Paddock, chairwoman of No Casino Gettysburg, said she respected Madonna's credentials.
"I would be very surprised if someone with Terry Madonna's reputation would be involved with a push poll," she said.
But, she added, "Two people voiced their concerns to me that they were the subject of a poll that turned from a poll asking their opinion to a poll selling the casino."
And Jeff Klein, a spokesman for Pro Casino Adams County, said he'd heard from casino supporters "that the questions were kind of leading."
With the poll's release planned before the end of March, La Torre said he is confident any objections will be dispelled.
"A project like this, which has received considerable public scrutiny, demands that any polling be done objectively," La Torre said. "And that's what this poll is -- objective.
"We'll let the public decide once they see the poll," he added.
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