Special Poll:
Hillary Clinton for President

Several days ago, Night Bird's Fountain featured its first survey conducted by The Dark Wraith Forums Polling Center. That poll was relatively successful, having garnered at the time of this article 25 responses.

Typically, only a fraction of visitors to a Website will participate in a poll. Reasons are diverse: some prefer as a matter of personal preference not to reveal opinions in certain forums; others find no response reasonably reflective of personal opinion on the matter at hand; still others simply cannot make the poll function.

With respect to poll design, it is important to note that different types of polls and surveys can be conducted. Aside from the forum itself, the character of a poll is governed by the question posed, as well as by the response choices offered. One broad category might be called the "conditional poll," wherein prior conditions of terminology, political philosophy, perspective, and/or other factors are reflected in the question asked or the responses available. To one extent or another, all polls and surveys are conditional, but some are much more centrally (if not transparently) so.

One important, if much maligned, type of survey is the so-called "push poll," made famous by political operatives for George W. Bush during the 2000 Presidential campaign. This is a political weapon that many put in the "dirty tricks" category. A push-poll has the specific and hidden intent of causing people to form an opinion based upon what appears at first pass to be helpful information provided in the title, the question, and/or the responses offered.

The poll being offered in this post is a push-poll. In fact, this post itself is part of the push: look at the title, and think about your receptiveness to taking the poll even before you see it. This is an operating example of political hardball. Whether it constitutes a political "dirty trick" should be the subject of comments for this article.

Without further ado, the second poll is herewith deployed as an exclusive to readers of this fine blog.

Exclusive Online Poll by The Dark Wraith Forums for Night Bird's Fountain
Hillary Clinton for President