A friend of the Sentinel received a call today from a sophisticated push pollster hoping to measure the respondent’s thoughts about the new KCI and the $800 million Go Bonds. The pollster was likely trying to influence those thoughts as well.
The pollster asked how the respondent felt about Mayor Sly James, the City Council, the proposed KCI single terminal, and the $800 Go Bonds. Upon hearing negative responses to all of these questions, the pollster asked if certain factors would cause the respondent to rethink his objections.
Most of these factors were expected. Would it influence the respondent, for instance, if he knew that no taxes would pay for the new terminal? Or if he knew that a private enterprise would take responsibility for the airport improvements?
The question that surprised the respondent was this, as paraphrased, “Would it affect your opinion about the new terminal if you knew President Trump had put this project on his list of recommended infrastructure improvements?”
When the respondent said Trump’s recommendation would not affect his opinion about KCI, the call ended abruptly. The respondent was not sure whether it was a technical issue or whether the pollster simply thought him no longer worth talking to.
The respondent wondered too whether the pollster asked the Trump question to everyone or only to deplorables like himself who did not have the good sense to embrace the opinion of the local elite.
As the April 4 Election Day nears, these questions will likely sort themselves out.