As Bush says, political courage has come to be synonymous with opposition to the simple-minded solutions and expectations embodied in polls. Corrigans of the punditocracy. For months now, the glittering phalanx for the status quo made up of producers and reporters has sought to upend Bush s tax cutting plan as unpopular. When Bush lost New Hampshire, pundits gleefully attributed the loss to his plan to cut taxes. Polling is nowhere near the exact science portrayed by the press.
Results are often soft or mushy.
And even when hard majorities are found, the media don t show how conflicted, how inconsistent or just how plain confused voters are. Support for tax cuts is a great way to show just how detrimental polling can be to public debate when the media has its own agenda. Wording plays the decisive role in all polling questions because Americans are generally ignorant about matters political. What the media doesn t want you to know is that most voters are making up their answers on the spot. The public does or does not support tax cuts depending on how you frame the question.