Polls

By Hank Silverberg

The polls were very wrong in the 2016 election, so many political analysts and reporters have been careful this election cycle not to make a big deal out of them. It’s not clear yet if the pollsters are any better this time around, though to some extent they have been basically right in the primaries.

This past week I got a postcard in the mail telling me the Associated Press was doing an election study with the help of the University of Chicago, and I should call a number or go on line to participate. Just enter the pin, answer questions and they’d send me five bucks for doing so. Hey, it's five bucks, not even enough for a good lunch, but I called and participated.

Virginia is one of the Super Tuesday states, so they started off with the usual questions: Which of the candidates did I support in the Democratic Primary? Who was my second choice? They asked me about some issues too, though the questions were a bit vague.

Do I approve or disapprove of more taxes on oil and natural gas?

“Well, it depends,” I said. "Is that tax at the wholesale level, the retail level or at the corporate level?” 

That stumped the pollster who suggested we skip that question.

There were a few more about health care and guns and the like, also very vague. Then came the age and race question and also this question:

“Are you liberal, moderate or conservative?”

With pride I gave an answer Socrates would love: 

“Moderate!” I said (see last week’s blog).

Then came the stupidest question any pollster has ever asked anywhere.

“Are you liberal moderate or conservative moderate?"

“What, no moderate moderate?" I asked, a bit annoyed.

Pollsters never seem to acknowledge that real moderates even exist, especially in today's polarized climate. 

I wanted to know when the poll/study would be published. They couldn’t tell me, but I can expect that five dollars in the mail in a week to ten days.

The only poll that counts is on voting day. 

News Briefs:

Then there is the Coronavirus. NO, it has nothing to do with Mexican beer, though there is a good portion of the public who think it does. Really, no joke!

It’s actually called Covid-19. It’s a real virus that has sickened almost 90,000 people across the globe. (The numbers get higher every day.) More than 3,000 people have died worldwide. That is NOT a pandemic yet, but the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control are warning that it is spreading and precautions need to be taken. Corona is not e-bola, or smallpox or the measles, which often kill thousands of people quickly. At least that’s what the scientists are saying.  But you don’t want you or a family member to get it. It is advised that you wash your hands often. If you have the symptoms which appear like the flu or a number of other maladies, you are being asked to stay home from school or work and see a doctor, just in case. You can find out more about prevention by viewing this video:  

We’ve handled things like this before. Remember SARS? This time though, instead of rational precaution and research by the federal government, we are getting politics. Donald Trump called it a hoax, then backed away, saying the virus wasn’t a hoax but the reaction to it was all designed to make him look bad.

Frankly, we don’t care for this nonsense. The media is not out to get you, Mr. Trump. Journalists have an obligation to inform the public of the outbreak and how our government and others are handling it.

The President put Vice President Pence in charge of dealing with Covid-19. I’m not sure Pence believes medical professionals any more than Trump does, but at least he can string an English sentence together enough to make sense.

Regular readers may have noticed my last few blogs are more slanted and opinionated than previous entries. I have taken the gloves off.  The stakes are high now.

Of note:

I am not very pleased with Democrats either. A year ago we had more than 20 people with great diversity running for president. But at this point, eight months before the election, the three front runners are white men, all over 75. The nominee will be running against 73-year- old Donald Trump. I have been waiting for the new series, “Candidates, the Next Generation.”  Instead, I am getting tired old repeats.

And finally, the President is on the attack against two liberal members of the United States Supreme Court.  He says Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sontomayor are biased against him and should recuse themselves on any case involving his administration. That, of course, is totally ridiculous.  

https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/opinion/ct-lns-talk-of-county-st-0304-20200301-jxepc53dungjnak4z3z6xokqpm-story.html

They are Supreme Court Justices, not congress members, interest groups or just members of the public. Most of the cases before the

Supreme Court are connected to the Federal Government somehow. Is this just another example of Mr. Trump's ignorance about how things work? Or it a continuation of his attack on the very institutions of our country in an effort to undermine our democracy? Either way, it's just plain evil.

       (Your questions and comments are welcome) 

(Copies of  book are available at BN.com, Amazon.com or by emailing me at hanksilverberg@gmail.com to get a signed copy at a reduced price)