Push Polling for Nuclear Power

Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee (ENVY), which owns a nuclear power plant near Brattleboro, VT, has been conducting an opinion poll using leading questions designed to influence public opinion, not measure it. "They were trying to sneak in some propaganda disguised as an objective poll," said one local resident after being called. "They claimed they didn't know who was paying for the poll." ENVY has been fighting to keep the plant open as town meetings convene to discuss its fate. Last year, the company spent $250,000 on a public relations campaign that narrowly defeated an anti-nuke ballot initiative whose supporters only spent $500.