Political polls would have to disclose sponsors under Bryan Ávila bill

Miami-Dade Republican Sen. Bryan Ávila filed a bill Thursday requiring political pollsters to inform people who sponsored the poll before collecting responses.

The bill (SB 528) would punish pollsters who don’t disclose who is paying for the poll with a fine of up to $1,000 or up to a year in jail. Pollsters must include the disclosure at the beginning of polls conducted over text, at the beginning of a phone call, and in bold font of at least 12 points in emails.

Polling operations out Florida Atlantic University and the University of North Florida wouldn’t see much of a change if the bill passed, their directors told the Florida Phoenix.

“(The bill) didn’t faze me too much,” Kevin Wagner, Co-Director of the Florida Atlantic University Political Communication and Public Opinion Research Lab, said in a phone interview. “As a matter of course, in both our intro and our outro, which is when we introduce a poll and when we leave, we always say Main Street research on behalf of Florida Atlantic University, so we do this anyway.”

Michael Binder, who leads UNF’s Public Opinion Research Lab, said the proposal wasn’t likely to increase transparency.

“If you’re trying to root out nefarious actors, I’m not sure how much this is going to help because they’re just going say, ‘This poll is paid for by the Democracy Fund or America Fund,’ or whatever made-up name that given organization sticks on itself, so it’s not gonna necessarily be super transparent about who is actually doing it anyway,” Binder said.

Both polling experts said it could be harder for political parties and some candidates with fewer resources to conduct polls if the bill passed.

“Let’s say you’re polling for a political party and if you say, ‘I’m doing this for the Republicans or the Democrats.’ It may bias the people who are likely to respond to it or they may respond differently, and that could affect the kind of data that you could collect,” Wagner said.

Avila’s office did not respond to the Phoenix’s requests for comment.

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Jackie Llanos reporting. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected].

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