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A full-page ad in Tuesday's New York Times questions the truth of a Gallup poll that showed George W. Bush in the lead by 14 points. The ad, by MoveOn.org, accused Gallup of being way off-base, compared to other polls, which averaged only a three-point Bush lead.

"This isn't the first time the prestigious Gallup survey has been out on a limb with pro-Bush findings," according to the ad. Gallup predicts that more Republicans will vote in November than Democrats. Exit polls show more Democrats will vote, says MoveOn, and George Gallup Jr., son of the poll's founder, refuses to fix his faulty methodology. "What's going on here?" asks MoveOn.

Well, you see, Gallup knows the influence its polls wield, MoveOn says. If the public perceives one candidate to be winning, more voters will side with the winning candidate. Journalists cover the polls, pundits comment on them, and the public is fooled into thinking Bush will win. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. But why does Gallup want Bush to win?

MoveOn suggests it's all because Gallup Jr. "is a devout evangelical Christian." Gasp!

Gallup "has been quoted as calling his polling 'a kind of ministry.' And a few months ago, he said 'the most profound purpose of polls is to see how people are responding to God,'" the ad says. "We thought the purpose [of polling] is to faithfully and factually report public opinion."

Never mind that nearly any job a Christian performs can be considered "a kind of ministry," and never mind that Gallup is now retired and not conducting polls. Forget that Gallup heads a separate non profit, and he uses it, not political polling, to learn "how people are responding to God." MoveOn tries to discredit Gallup simply by alleging sinister ties to evangelical Christianity.

Besides, as Jim Rutenberg, of The New York Times, notes, it's all about killing the messenger when you don't like the message. "Many pollsters … said their more vociferous critics were often trying to shout down messengers delivering news that runs counter to the version of reality they want to see presented." Rutenberg says that nearly every pollster this election season has been attacked by those who don't like the message.

He also says that Gallup's comments were "in reference to his specialty and main interest—polling people on their religious beliefs." MoveOn responded by saying Gallup's "numbers can't be relied on and it's coincidentally also the case that George Gallup Jr. has said some things that could raise questions."

Catholic League president William Donohue is flabbergasted that Gallup's religious beliefs should "raise questions." "Only secularists, apparently, are capable of rendering an objective survey," he said. The ad "has impugned the integrity of all Christians."

Gallup, who is an advisory editor for Christianity Today, does have a religious mission in retirement. In a Religion News Service article (published in The Baptist Standard), Gallup said, "When I ask a question on these subjects, what I'm always trying to find out is: 'Are we doing the will of God?'" Gallup challenged students at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary's commencement (the same speech MoveOn pulled its quotes from), "The world knows a lot about Jesus, but do they know him? It is for the churches to seize this moment, to take the vague spirituality of the day and turn it into a faith that is solid and transformative."

Gallup also spoke about his desire to conduct religious polling. "The inner life is the new frontier of survey research in coming years," Gallup said. "We know so little about mystical experiences, yet the religious dynamic is perhaps the most powerful of all in American culture. This is a way to unite our country on a deep level and produce a more peaceful world."

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September (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48