With less than 50 days until voters hit the polls to cast their ballots in the midterm elections, candidates in Fresno’s City Council District 7 race are contending with a controversial questionnaire.<\/p>\n
“I have thick skin. There’s not a lot that people can say about me that would bother me,” said Fresno City Council District 7 Candidate Nav Gurm.<\/p>\n
That toughness was tested about two weeks ago when voters in District 7 received a problematic SurveyMonkey poll. The link now shows a closed survey.<\/p>\n
At the center of that poll was District 7 candidate Nav Gurm, a 26-year-old attorney and Fresno native who is also a practicing Sikh.<\/p>\n
Voters were asked to weigh in on questions ranging from Gurm’s age to his Sikh faith and ethnicity.<\/p>\n
“There was a lot of stuff that was off-limits in politics historically, and that’s dramatically changing,” said Gurm.<\/p>\n
The controversial questionnaire listed 18 questions, including one that directly targeted Gurm’s turban and asked voters if a candidate’s religious background or traditional cultural attire, such as a turban, affected their willingness to vote for that candidate.<\/p>\n
“My religious attire has never been raised as a concern. I’m proud of my Sikh faith, proud to be a Sikh American,” said Gurm.<\/p>\n
“It doesn’t matter who the attack is against, for me I stand against it; I stand against any kind of racist acts towards anybody include my opponent,” said Gurm’s District 7 race opponent, candidate Ariana Martinez Lott.<\/p>\n
According to Gurm, Political Opinion Research conducted the survey; it describes itself on its website as a phone-based data-gathering and analysis firm based in Michigan.<\/p>\n
During research for this report, Action News found inconsistencies on the site’s home page, including font changes and spelling errors.<\/p>\n
Action News asked Gurm about speculation that he could be behind the survey in an effort to gain more political attention.<\/p>\n
“One, every dollar I spend on behalf of my campaign is publicly disclosed. We haven’t spent any money on research,” said Gurm. “We try to put that back towards voter contact, and you know, I think, fair question but absolutely not. I’m well above that.”<\/p>\n
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