4
Found a solution...such is the wonder of Xoops!
I removed 'Module Access' to the Polls module in System Admin so that the users don't get the actual menu link to the polls module. By doing this the blocks for my normal polling is still shown, which is what I want for one user group.
Then, for my private polls that I want for a different user group, I've created a forum, granted access to it only by that user group, then used the polling feature of my CBB forum module. That way, the poll remains within the conceialed forum.
Bravo!