Sought opinions about Utah being contaminated (8)

I believe the answer is:

polluted

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'contaminated' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'sought opinions about utah being' is the wordplay.
'sought opinions about' becomes 'poll' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'utah' becomes 'u'.
'being' becomes 'Ted' (Ted is an example).
'poll'+'u'+'ted'='POLLUTED'

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(Other definitions for polluted that I've seen before include "Defiled" , "Contaminated" , "Tainted" , "Not good to drink" , "infected" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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