Grifters Gonna Grift: Carl DeMaio’s Shocking Poll Results

Former one-term San Diego City Councilman did a belly flop into the languid pool of Republican reality with some fake news of his own on Thursday. A press release promised polling data on public sentiment for recalling California’s recently sworn in Governor to be revealed live on Facebook and DeMaio’s late afternoon KOGO talk show.

The dispatch suggested big news, leading with: “Just 90 Days in Office, Gov. Gavin Newsom Out-of-Step with California Voters.”

Veteran Sacramento observer Scott Lay correctly smelled a rat:

POLLING A FAST ONE: Former San Diego councilman Carl DeMaio is grasping for relevance for his Reform California effort, stealing the "recall Gavin Newsom" mantra from Travis Allen. He is floating a poll by Remington Research group that is robo-call and uses completely biased questions. I hate link to the crap, but since people are talking about it, you should see it.

How are the questions slanted, you ask? Well, for one, the GOP pejorative description for Democratic voters (Democrat) is baked into the survey. To their credit, at no point did the survey call out Governor Newsom as a gun-hatin’, baby killin’, socialist.   

I tuned in to the livestream, waiting on the edge of my seat for the promised 5:15 reveal. After a quarter hour of hemming and hawing, the screen went dead as the show went to commercial. I clicked off, content to wait for a verdict of from the twitterati.

The reaction was brutal.

https://twitter.com/nathanfletcher/status/1108930158449156097

https://twitter.com/lucasoconnor/status/1108915926953451520

Politico’s California Playbook summarized the announcement and the drama leading up to it:.

AL CAPONE'S VAULT, REDUX? — Former San Diego councilman Carl DeMaio — the Republican behind last year's failed gas tax repeal — was pushing a questionable robo-call poll and promising big drama with its release Thursday as he touted a new Reform California drive to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom. Then came the big reveal yesterday: His own poll showed only 37 percent of Californians are interested in a Newsom recall. "Not enough support yet,'' DeMaio tweeted, in a political understatement. "We will focus on opposing his agenda."

So let’s deconstruct how this episode came to be.

On March 15 Carl DeMaio sent an email blast to his Reform California list, asking for contributions to support an “scientific, unbiased” statewide poll to see if voters have an appetite to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom.

From the Times of San Diego:

Channeling anger over the halt to state executions, Carl DeMaio says he wants to commission a “scientific, unbiased” statewide poll to see if voters have an appetite to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom.

In an email Friday from his Reform California PAC, the former San Diego councilman said a “favorable poll is CRUCIAL to getting major donors to back this...”

...(The email also says: “An unfavorable poll is equally helpful in explaining to supporters why we need to focus on other lines of attack.”)

The funding pitch must have worked, because two days later Remington Polling Research was asking questions of “1,303 likely 2020 General Election voters… Survey weighted to match expected turnout demographics for the 2020 General Election.”

So, according to the “expected turnout demographics,” 84% of those voters will be over age 50. I guess the “get out the Youth Vote” folks should just go home in advance of 2020.

Three push poll type questions were asked (Death Penalty, Taxes, & More Taxes) and then this:

After hearing some of the things he has done since taking office, do you think Governor Newsom should be recalled from office?  

UPDATE: Scott Lay really brought down the hammer in today's Nooner:

The first three questions were issues and they were questions that a first-year political science student would have flunked had he written them to be objective. On Twitter, Carl asked my problem with the poll. I responded with that explanation and the response was crickets.

Nice try, DeMaio.

***

Carl DeMaio’s other recent plea for attention has been commentary insisting that the liberal media (Voice of San Diego, I assume) was involved in covering up accusations about charges of sexual harassment against San Diego Unified Board Trustee Kevin Beiser.

https://twitter.com/carldemaio/status/1108157281030598656

I know first hand this “cover up” accusation wasn’t true, since being informed about these accusations back in January. I agreed with the assessment that Voice of San Diego’s investigative resources should be used to vet the story, not to mention the fact they have lawyers available should things break badly.

Here’s a link to Andy Keatts’ reporting at Voice of San Diego.

Ken Stone at the Times of San Diego has a good accounting of how this story was handled, in case you’re interested.

Here’s a snip:

By the time it was posted Tuesday afternoon, the story had been edited (tightened from 5,000 words, but “I didn’t leave people out”) and reviewed by Voice attorney Matthew Halgren of Sheppard Mullin.

Top editor Lewis wasn’t sure DeMaio was referencing Voice as “the liberal media outlet” that “sat” on the story but called it “ridiculous” if such were the case.

Lewis also asked: What exactly is the allegation?

“Why would Dems want Kevin not to run for Council? And yes, there is a reason these men went to Andrew: They trusted him. And then we allegedly held it for … what?”

Lewis said his outlet worked hard to make sure the story was “airtight and fair,” adding: “If DeMaio is addressing us in that Tweet, he should consider asking for our perspective before making such an accusation.”

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Email me at DougPorter@WordsAndDeedsBlog.com