Polls

Polls!

We have polls for just about everything, but political polls are ubiquitous. Perhaps too much so.

I've never been polled. I am accessible. I shop, but I've not been asked anything by pollsters outside the supermarket. My phone is listed and even though I am on the "do not call" list, I've not been called. The "do not call list" has not stopped many other organizations from calling my phone at inappropriate times.

Frankly I think polling for political attribution and public dissemination ought to be banned for the last two months of the election campaign. Polls can influence depending on the questions asked and the sampling.

If you are influenced by polling numbers and haven't done your candidate homework you are referred to as a persuadable voter. Just because your neighbors or some family member thinks one candidate or the other is the way go, that's fine for them, but do your own research to see what's best for you and then continue to validate your thinking with ongoing research.

Have you noticed that when the polling numbers are down for a candidate the campaign spokesperson says, "we don't pay much attention to the polls, but then when the poll numbers are favorable it's a different story. Seems to me you can't have it both ways. It's not only disingenuous, it's another campaign sham that we have to endure and we have enough of those already.

What bothers me is that both campaigns will stretch the facts, if not distort them with impunity. The quest for power, or the sustaining of it, disempowers the electorate unless truth is the denominator of all discussion and debate.