October 26, 2004
SING IT SISTER
Addicted to Polls: Parsing the political-numbers watch (Gwen Brown, National Review Online, 10/26/04)
I have a confession to make: I've become an addict. Every morning, I fly to the computer to check the latest news and opinion about the presidential campaign. What concerns me is that my first stop — after NRO, of course — is always RealClearPolitics.com, to which I return throughout the day. I neeeeeeeed to find out what the latest polls are indicating. Who is up or down in the latest ABC/Washington Post poll? CNN/USA Today/Gallup? Zogby? Fox News? Rasmussen? What's the average of all the latest polls? How is the race going in the battleground states? Florida? Ohio? Pennsylvania? Wisconsin? I'm such an addict that "Quinnipiac" now rolls easily off my tongue. In fact, my addiction has become so great that I fear I will need a twelve-step program starting on November 3.Undoubtedly, there is someone in the country with a computer on his or her desk who is getting some work done this week.
Freak.
Posted by David Cohen at October 26, 2004 9:29 PMWatching the futures markets is even more continuous and exciting, with a trade every few minutes on average.
Posted by: Bret at October 26, 2004 10:38 PMPoll watching has indeed become addictive and stressful. I'd much rather have all the polls with Bush +15 than this nailbiter stuff. But I think I can hang on for 1 more week.
Posted by: AWW at October 26, 2004 10:46 PMI can't stand it no more.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at October 26, 2004 11:24 PMFor a rational, analytical perspective on the polling, I recommend The Horserace Blog, which will quell the daily jitters.
Posted by: jd watson at October 26, 2004 11:28 PMJD -- The point of this was not to give me another site to check compulsively.
Posted by: David Cohen at October 26, 2004 11:37 PMI tracked the polls & futures markets compulsively until I finally noticed -- they haven't changed in 3 weeks. So this week I'm calmly ignoring them.
Posted by: pj at October 27, 2004 12:52 AMPlease, God, LET IT END!! I yield to no man in my suppport of Bush, but recently I cannot stand even the Bush ads on TV.
Posted by: John Cunningham at October 27, 2004 2:24 AMI believe living next door to the United States is the gift of a benevolent deity. I believe in American exceptionalism and will be eternally grateful for the sacrifices you and your countrymen have made to protect me and my loved ones. I pray you continue to be the world's policeman and the City on the Hill.
But,I swear,if you don't find a way to shorten your presidential electoral campaigns, I'm joining the Islamists!
Posted by: Peter B at October 27, 2004 6:35 AMBye Peter B..
Posted by: Uncle Bill at October 27, 2004 9:03 AMPeter B: If it's any consolation, the campaigns cannot get much longer -- the recent Dem Presidential candidates have been running for the job since puberty.
Posted by: curt at October 27, 2004 9:25 AMI can't stand it much longer and I am starting to shut down (although I am cautiously optomistic). As usual during an election season, I do it all gradually. I stopped listening to NPR in late July. I don't have full cable so I don't get CNN, MSNBC or Foxnews. I stopped watching the major news shows from ABC, CBS and NBC about 5 years ago. I read blogs and news on the internet.
Posted by: pchuck at October 27, 2004 9:37 AMI stopped listening to NPR in late '01; what took you so long?
Posted by: Mike Morley at October 27, 2004 1:23 PM