Four years ago, I'm quite certain I was frustrated with the news media for giving so much attention to presidential polls ahead of the election. At that point, I wanted to hear the candidate's views on the issues, and I resented the time spent looking at how people might vote on any given day.
In 2008 I've been completely poll-hooked. I keep reading fivethirtyeight.com and related sites. Why? Well, for one thing, the fivethirtyeight.com guys are doing cool math, and explaining it! I'm a math guy, after all, and it's geekily interesting to see how the stuff we learned in school can be applied.
Another reason, however, is that there is blessed little new happening, on any given day, relative to the positions of the candidates. You can find plenty of ways to glean McCain's thinking on taxes, Obama's plan for education, and so on, but they don't change. This Internet thing is really powerful, after all. And the candidates are using it well.
Finally, the polling available today is so widespread that I can find information about many related things. What will the Democrat majority look like in the Senate? The House? What will California do on Proposition 8, and how will that affect things? What effect will being a convicted felon have on a senator running for re-election in the home state of the GoP VP candidate?
Polls help me make educated guesses and have educated opinions as I read about them and the related issues.
Maybe in another election cycle I'll go back to my previous attitude. But for this time, it's been really fun. And educational.
It doesn't get much better than that!
If it were creative, it would be darn near perfect.
Maybe I should write a story......
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