Polls are everywhere. You have to know what I'm talking about -- national polls, swing state polls, likeability polls, Ohio polls. The groups conducting these polls obviously don't care about our feelings. If they cared, they would put our sanity first and their need to stay ahead of the news second. They wouldn't package up voters' complex, ever-changing, annoyingly fickle feelings into neat little statistics every hour.
Yes, this plethora of polls is understandably anxiety-inducing. If you're a political junkie like me, then sometimes my guy is ahead, sometimes he's behind, and sometimes all I need is some consistency in order to get some sleep at night. While polls will continue to torture us until election day, there is one glimmer of consistency that has surfaced from this mess of percentages: this is a close race. So close that no soothsayer, no poll, no superstition could confidently predict it right now. This means that, more than ever, your vote counts this November. The candidate you support is in dire need of your vote because a race this close can be decided by a small number of voters.
Look at the 2000 election. President George W. Bush beat out Vice President Al Gore for the presidency by just 500 votes. Think of the number of people in your high school or college class -- 500 of those people could have decided the election. Think of all of the people who decided not to vote in 2000; maybe they thought they were taking a stand by not voting, or maybe they were just too lazy. Either way, they could have changed the history of our electorate if they had decided to, once every four years, walk or drive to their local polling place and pull a lever.
You might be glad George W. Bush won; or maybe you wish Al Gore had become president. Either way, the election of 2000 could happen to any candidate. And you don't want your candidate to lose because a couple hundred or thousand or even 10,000 people decided not to vote on election day. You also definitely don't want to be one of those people, especially when the presidential race we're facing is such a nail-biter.
If anything, these neck-and-neck polls show that every vote matters. Saying "my vote won't make a difference" is not an excuse. Your vote does make a difference. Your vote could be one to help swing this election.
So cast a ballot tomorrow. Let's finally harness our power and show those polls who's boss. Let's participate in an election where each candidate, every polling group, and the rest of the country are waiting with bated breath for our vote.
Find all of the information you need to vote tomorrow at www.rockthevote.com.