Forget Obama vs. Clinton...Are You for Dogs or Cats? Tuesday or Wednesday?

I'm not a big fan of public opinion polls.

With the exception of whatever happened in Indiana the other night, polling takes the fun and excitement out of election night results. I don't need a poll to tell me that people are worried about retirement, that the war in Iraq is unpopular or that gas prices are too high. And, I'm not sure I care what day of the week or part of the baseball field is the favorite of 1,000 Americans.

Just when I thought all the polling questions had been asked, the Wall Street Journal came through with a story headlined, "I Do: With online polling, brides-to-be are turning to a new type of wedding planner -- a few hundred of their closest friends."

"As the MySpace generation begins to marry, everybody's invited to help plan the wedding," the Journal reported.

One groom had his friends vote on whether he should shave his head for his wedding. Others are getting input on the cakes (with a separate category for frosting), drinks, honeymoon destinations, first dance songs, and type of music.

An expert from The Knot said, "Collaborative wedding plans are only a part of 'the wikifying of everything.'"

That inspired me to see what Wikipedia had to say about polling. Much to my surprise, I saw that the groom who asked friends whether he should shave his head for his wedding might not be so off base: Wikipedia offered:

"Etymology 1: From polle ('hair of the head'), (recorded in English since c.1290), from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch pol ('head, top'). Meaning 'collection of votes' is first recorded 1625, from notion of 'counting heads.'"

By the way, the Wall Street Journal reports, "'Without hair' trounced 'with hair' by a landslide." It will be interesting to see if the bride and groom agree with the poll results as years go on.

Now we go on to West Virginia...although the pollsters have already told me everything I didn't want to know yet.

Comments

[TRCimino]

I think by now, it's safe to say that we have entered a new era of politics and we are going to have to admit that new rules apply. No, not the humorous "New Rules" (Bill Maher), but an entire playbook of new rules in a constant state of re-write. Like a tall ship entering a virgin sea, with the captain and the mapmaker on the same deck, we are not only making history, but writing it as we go. Whether it is voting for a white woman (Hillary) or a black man (Barack) the current state of events has the American public saying one thing and doing another.

These "polls" have also played an important part in the manipulation of the public"s perception of "who"s on top" throwing weight to campaigns that wouldn"t ordinarily have a chance. With the advent of the biased media machine (Ted/ Rupert) these polls have played an important roll in shaping potential candidates for venues they wouldn"t otherwise achieve. These polls, by the way, are presented with little or no demographical data and are flashed on TV screens so fast that by the time we have had a chance to check the facts, the course of the story has changed and out attention span has followed (Britney/ Lindsay/ Miley).

[ThreeCentsWorth]

It's no fun to know who's going to win the election in advance because of all the polling data, but it's got to be less fun to go to a wedding where public opinion sets the agenda.

[kaseybandit]

Time to get away from the keyboard and into real life. Wonder if they vote whether or not to get married or who to date.

[altohone]

Political polling asks the questions the people paying for the poll want asked, how they want them asked.
Anybody ever see a poll on what the definition of conservative, centrist or moderate is?
Does your definition conform with the votes of the politicians who use those words to describe themselves?

As for weddings, tell people to stay home, don't fill the atmosphere with carbon... you'll post video and share a toast next time you're together.
Use the money you save to tackle ANY of the problems in the world... rescue some dogs and cats if that's what you're friends vote for... and you lack any vision of your own. The last thing you'd want is something personalized on your wedding day after all.

Of course, advice from an expert at a for-profit company is a great place to start.

[Newyorkgal]

I just took a poll of one and the consensus is that along with doing away with the pollsters, the pontificating political pundits are overdue for an enormous Time Out!