I Like Polls That Tell Me Things I Like To Hear

My political science degree tells me that most polls are useless, and I definitely know that presidential polls a year and a half out from the election mean absolutely nothing. That in no way stops me from enjoying things like this poll from Newsweek, which shows every top-tier Democrat beating every top-tier Republican.

The accompanying story tells the tale of guilt (and disapproval) by association. I was not the first political writer to make jokes about Ronald Reagan and how no one would talk about Bush at the first GOP debate, but the second debate didn't do much for anyone. Oh, there were sparks (and how!) but not much meat. Well, unless you count Romney's desire to double Guantanamo as substantive policy. Which I don't.

I admit it, though. I am a poll watcher. I check them, hoping to glean some insight from the results, knowing full well that even if the sample is large enough and representative of actual likely voters, which it almost never is, they still wouldn't really tell me anything. Nevertheless, I watch pages like this excellent Wikipedia compilation of Democratic primary polls. It is a bad habit, and I should probably avoid it.

Still, though. Good news is good news. I guess we spent long enough hearing about how much America disliked Democrats to allow ourselves a little indulgence.