Poll cats

I read a good book by Jack Germond some months ago called Fat Man Fed Up, and in one chapter he discussed the negative ramifications of public opinion polling in American politics. I agreed with his point, particularly because in the past I wasted so much of my life checking the latest polls to see who was up or down. It has gotten to the stage that opinion polls are treated as major news, and begin to look like self-fulfilling prophecies as positive or negative trends feed on themselves. One current example is the conservative Rasmussen Report, which routinely tracks Obama's fading popularity as health care reform dominates the news.

I've actually participated in a few national telephone surveys, enough to have a rough idea how opinion polling is conducted, so this blog item attracted my attention. Polls have their place, but the only time they're really meaningful is during the two weeks immediately preceding an election. Americans are too fucking ditzy for their mood swings to be significant on any given day.

Added 11:48 am, same day: Speaking of ditzy Americans, this item in today's papers explains why nearly all my TV-watching hours are spent at PBS, TCM, Starz, Encore, channels that show reruns of classic sitcoms like The Honeymooners, and the USA Network when episodes of Monk are on. Maybe ESPN this fall, if there's a good college football game scheduled.

Added 10:54 pm, Tuesday, 18 August: Further evidence that I'm right.