For Whom the Firm Polls

The U.S.-based "strategic market research firm" Penn, Schoen & Berland is under scrutiny in Venezuela. The firm's polling erroneously predicted that President Hugo Chavez lost a recall referendum; the opposition "insists [the poll] shows the results of the vote itself were fraudulent." Moreover, poll "results ... were sent out by fax and e-mail to media outlets and opposition offices more than four hours before polls closed," in violation of Venezuelan law. The fact that "members of Sumate, a Venezuelan group that helped organize the recall initiative, [did] the fieldwork for the poll," has also raised questions; Sumate received U.S. National Endowment for Democracy funding "to encourage participation in the referendum."