Is WI Senate candidate Tim Michels outsourcing his push-pollers?

[LTR]

Just got a call from a 'pollster'. It could have been legit, but the questions seemed to favor Tim Michels, a repulsive Republican smear artist running for Senate in Wisconsin against Russ Feingold. The person was a bit hard to understand, definitely hard to understand, and the caller ID listed a number from Utah, [phone]. The name on the ID says "Western WATS".

Asked many questions about the Wisconsin senate race, candidate advertising, and my voting habits. Anyone get anything like this?

Ironic that Michels outsourced his personal pollsters, considering his opponent has come out hard against it.

[eyesroll]

1. Technically, this isn't the type of outsourcing people are criticizing

Utah is still the United States, subject to the same labor standards and all that. Many candidates in many states (and in many parties) use out-of-state firms to do their polling.

It's overseas outsourcing that's the problem. (Then again...I can't imagine there isn't a way to make calls coming from India look like they're coming from Utah.)

[LTR]

2. The name on it says "Western WATS"

Perhaps there's a big switching station for that stuff in Utah.

The guy's voice was Indian. Also a little bit of a delay as well.

[eyesroll]

3. Hmm...

They appear to be entirely domestic. :shrug:

http://www.westernwats.com/

About Us

Nestled at the base of majestic Mt. Timpanogos in Provo, Utah, Western Wats began serving the market research community in 1987 with 15 phones and a card table. Though we've grown substantially in size and ability, our many years in the saddle have not changed our business philosophy. Simply put, we believe client service comes first, we never compromise quality for profits, and we innovate new technologies and methods to provide data collection that leads the industry.

We also know much of our data collection is only as good as our interviewers. By locating our interviewing centers near universities throughout the Intermountain West, we've learned how to attract, train, and retain honest, hard-working interviewers who are quick-on-the-draw and genuinely enjoy the work they do. We intentionally keep the size of our interviewing centers small enough to maintain quality and flexibility while sustaining a more enjoyable work environment and culture.

Some of our visitors are surprised to see our interviewers outfitted with comfortable seats, clean workspace, large computer screens, and other evidence that we do things a little differently around here. We've learned on the trail that happy interviewers mean lower turnover, higher response rates, and better quality data collection.