Parents for Choice in Education is using Rovian chicanery in its campaign to promote private-school vouchers paid for with public money. In a poll question, the pro-voucher group implied that those who oppose vouchers, particularly public school teachers, also support same-sex unions and higher taxes.

What these issues have to do with the voucher question that will appear on the November ballot is a mystery. But we see a couple of explanations for this desperate ploy to link public-school support with legalized same-sex unions, which Utah has rejected.

First, insinuating in a poll question that your opponents are somehow evil often elicits the desired response. It is an old technique called "push polling." It influences how the subject answers the question and, at the same time, besmirches the opponent.

This bald effort to mislead only cheapens the debate and sidetracks the real question: Should taxpayers be forced to subsidize private schools that the state does not oversee or hold accountable to the public system?

Of course, wording the poll question as they did may reveal more about Parents for Choice in Education than the group intended. For them, vouchers may be a way to use tax money to help fund religion-based schools so like-minded parents can shelter their children from public classrooms where intolerance is discouraged.

We hope we are wrong. But constructing an "us and them" scenario, in which voucher opponents are tagged as "liberal" supporters of same-sex unions and higher taxes, has us thinking otherwise. We would remind Parents for Choice in Education that using public money to support religion is unconstitutional. The voucher proposal before voters in November already faces constitutional hurdles since it does not limit where the tax-funded vouchers can be used.

There are legitimate issues surrounding vouchers that should be debated before Election Day. Better for all if that discussion takes place on higher ground.