OR-SOS: Chuck Adams and his hilariously bad "poll" in the Avakian/Richardson race

Kari Chisholm

It was the kind of headline that makes political watchers in Oregon sit up and take notice:

Poll: Richardson leads Secretary of State race

According to the story in the Statesman-Journal, Republican Dennis Richardson was up 47% to 38% over Democrat Brad Avakian in a poll paid for by GOP gubernatorial candidate Bud Pierce.

But it didn't take long before the SSJ made one little, tiny, but oh-so-critical update:

It randomly sampled 535 people ... 440 of the respondents said they were Republicans.

That's right: According to this "random sample" poll, 82% of Oregonians are self-identifying Republicans. HAHHAHA.

And just a few hours later, the SSJ yanked the story offline entirely. So, for your viewing pleasure, here's a screenshot (click to zoom). We're putting this in Chuck Adams's permanent record:

Here's my question: Dr. Bud Pierce is a newcomer to politics and, by all accounts, an well-meaning (if misguided) guy. Did he know that his consultant, Chuck Adams, was shopping a bogus poll to the media? Is this the kind of campaign he wants to run?

By Kari Chisholm June 22, 2016