Wisdom  
Peggy Noonan

Politics
Polls
Polls are contributing to a strange new volatility in public opinion... [They have] the effect of hardening opinions that haven't even been formed yet. Poll questions do not invite subtlety or response. This dispels ambiguity, when a lot of thoughts and opinions are ambiguous. And we are polled too often. We are constantly having our temperature taken, like a hypochondriac... Nations that use polls as daily temperature readings inevitably give inauthentic readings, and wind up not reassured but demoralized.
   
Browse Next