Zogby Wal-Mart Poll Results Fishy

I had some questions about a Zogby poll on America's attitude toward retail giant Wal-Mart when that poll was released, and there's some new information out today which may indicate that John Zogby has more than a passing interest in how that poll turned out:

Perhaps because Mr. Zogby has such a sterling reputation -- which has enabled him to snare contracts with several top media outlets, including Reuters, NBC, and the Wall Street Journal -- his findings were reported largely unchallenged.

But what no journalist would have known without digging is that Mr. Zogby cannot be considered an objective third-party when it comes to Wal-Mart. Without the presumption that the pollster was working solely to gauge scientifically the attitudes of the public, the poll loses much of its luster and becomes just another cog in Big Labor's coordinated campaign against the retailer.

In recent years, Mr. Zogby has pocketed roughly $90,000 to serve as an expert witness for individuals suing Wal-Mart, according to testimony he gave in a deposition last year in an Arizona case. Nowhere is Mr. Zogby's prior work on behalf of plaintiffs mentioned in the press release announcing the poll results.

[...]

Precisely because trust is so important, WakeUpWalMart.com hired Mr. Zogby to give its poll bashing Wal-Mart extra panache and an air of instant credibility. In a phone interview, WakeUpWalMart.com spokesman Chris Kofinis adamantly maintained that the poll was beyond reproach because Mr. Zogby is "an independent." Which, not coincidentally, is exactly how the pollster described himself -- again and again and again.

[...]

But how "independent" is it to, as Mr. Kofinis described it, draft poll questions "in consultation with" WakeUpWalMart.com, even though the reason Zogby polls are held in higher esteem is because they perceived to be more objective, more "independent?" And by Mr. Zogby's own admission, WakeUpWalMart.com wrote the press release that he put his company's name on and subsequently sent out. Mr. Kofinis knew this wouldn't look good, and he didn't fess up that his group wrote the Zogby press release until he was told that Mr. Zogby admitted it. The Wal-Mart poll is not the first time Mr. Zogby has taken money from one party and conducted polling where his objectivity ostensibly would be compromised.

According to a November 2000 Village Voice article, the pollster collected "$54,000 in payments from the 1997 Giuliani campaign after polling the race for the [New York] Post, and picking up another $5000 this year from the State Republican Committee while polling the Senate race."

I think we can safely disregard this poll, given the information above.