Column by Jane Wardlow Prettyman Majoritarian thinking reflected by polling is a major feature of the low-brow approach to discussing political affairs. Polls simplify the drama for the media. A closely divided electorate means we have a lot to talk about. Yet, even though everybody's talkin , we're off in our opposing corners, singing to choirs our hymns of division rather than trying to figure out how the other half thinks and learn how the other half lives. Majorities are not necessarily wise.
Majorities can be dead wrong.
It's the tip of the iceberg. Sometimes polls vary markedly over a few days' time, showing nothing more than how confused we are. The confusion is left dangling in the air as an oddity to be wondered at, its complexity never explored. We shrug our shoulders and surf to the next channel. Polls are anonymous reflections of our passive opinions rendered without consequence.