If there is info to be gleaned from this poll, here are a couple breakdowns (but I do doubt the poll is a necessary thing to solve the entire clue set because he wouldn't have given us a puzzle without any means of solving...unless he did, lol) In all likelihood there is a crucial piece of info we are all overlooking, so as I find myself going this many layers deep, I also am very much considering how convoluted my thought process is at this point, and so these should probably just be looked at as primers to look elsewhere:
Word Letter Count (Adding up total number of letters per word per line of the poll, and finding the corresponding letter of the alphabet)
:
Golden Heart: 3-11 (C-K)
Skull One: 4-2-4-4 (D-B-D-D)
Skull Two: 3-7-5-2 (C-G-E-B)
Mask: 2-8-5 (B-H-E)
Total Letter Count/Letter (Adding up total number of letters per line of the poll, and finding corresponding letter of alphabet)
:
Golden Heart: 18 (R)
Skull One: 14 (N)
Skull Two: 17 (Q)
Mask: 15 (O)
Letter Position In Poll Phrases (Assuming number in clue is letter position in the phrase in the poll with each emoji corresponds to a number position in the clue, I've made a number
Bold and Underlined to indicate a black circle, just
underlined to indicate a plain circle) Issue with this one also is the middle number has nothing to correspond to if we assume the pattern of Heart-Skull-Number-Skull-Mask. I am not confident in this methodology, the results (really any of it) especially because it is early, but maybe the thought process will help inspire:
Clue 1:
D-
V-9-
L-
A
Clue 2:
D-?-
4-
A-
E
Clue 3:
D-
V-
1-
R-
H
Clue 4: D-
E-0-
E-
E
Clue 5:
S-O-
6-
E-T
More likely, once whatever cypher is figured out (if there even is a cypher), it is possible things go even one level deeper with a little scramble. If the coloring of the letters doesn't have an additional meaning, it is possible they are colored to indicate something along the lines of a Mastermind code (or Wordle type thing). Think something like the
black circled numbers are in the correct position,
circled numbers are in the final phrase but incorrect position, and maybe even un-colored numbers are incorrect letters needing to be replaced to begin with (devious, but possible). I am using this as an example, it could be any permutation of that, or it could be completely off base to begin with.
Just wanted to throw a few more branches onto the fire here when it comes to cryptography, but ultimately as I said above, I feel like my logic here is on the more "overthinking" side of things, especially because not a single 'answer' I came to up there makes any sense. If you have to twist something to try and make sense of it, it is likely a wrong path, or your own confirmation bias trying to make clues fit for what you already expect. It is always best to go in with no expectations of an outcome. Anyhoo, happy Wednesday, haha