UPDATE: Quick clarification. I had previously asked my source about the notion that Romney is behind the poll. He said it was "nonsense". I should clarify that this is his opinion. From my conversations I gather that he does not know exactly who is behind the survey but thinks that a Romney motive is "ridiculous". Again, he is understandably tight lipped on all this.

Numerous anti-Romney blogs are alive with fervor just hoping that Romney himself conducted the anti-Mormon calls to help his campaign. They cite political connections with the data collection firm and the fact that its based in Utah.

Couple of facts here:

If you are political campaign wanting to conduct research over the phone or Internet this Utah-based firm would be one of your first choices.

• The firm "Western Wats" is the biggest data collection firm in the country. Probably a good number of political entities have used it.
• "Western Wats" employs more than 1500 people
• The company has numerous call centers all over the country (not just in Utah)
• The company does not write the scripts nor do they analyze the data
• The company does not do "push polls", but they do conduct "message testing" (sometimes even this is controversial)
• Fortune 500 firms use their services all the time
• There are dozens of projects going on at any given point in time.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sick and disgusted about these calls... but to pin them on Romney's campaign is just projecting anger at Mitt.

In short, while it may have been founded by Utahns it can hardly be called a Mormon firm. The connections to the Romney campaign are far and few between and coincidental in my mind.

Labels: anti-mitt, Anti-mormon, polling, utah, western wats