https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2007-01-21/more-phone-survey-theorizing/

More Phone Survey Theorizing

By Wells Dunbar, January 21, 2007, 10:56pm, Newsdesk

A seasoned hand at Austin politics writes in to say there may be more behind the rash of Wal-Mart phone surveys than a crass attempt to sway public opinion:

"What Wal-Mart is doing isn't necessarily a 'poll.' It sounds more akin to a voter ID program, where they are attempting to ID supporters (and activate them somehow in the future), but also test messages on the opponents. It's a two-fer, but probably not the kind of thing they release to the public as a 'poll.'

They did this in South Austin in 2003 as well. Look for a slick mailer to hit your mail box soon with some subset of the messages tested."

There you have it: finessing their message and identifying sympathizers as to activate them as needed. Wow.

Wal-Mart's creating sleeper cells!