The Heartache of Poll Watching

MSNBC - Polls vary wildly in view of race for White House

Well, it's happened. The polls have begun to be irrelevant, much as a broken compass which sways wildly in the general direction of somewhere near magnetic north.

This has been heartbreaking for me. A month or so ago, I reveled in my poll analysis piece. That just so happened to be on the eve of the wild season. Now I have learned to just try to not put any emotional emphasis on new results. The thrust of my analysis concluded that the poll results are more valuable for news sales if there is no clear winner for the time being. Polling Report has results which show Kerry two points up about a week ago in one poll, and w ahead by as much as 12 points in the past week.

Do we believe any of it? At this point, no. We need to keep an eye on them, but do not believe anything until three or four more weeks pass. Then we should see an opportunity for the results settle down into a reliable trend.