Written originally in 1972 by New York Times editorial board member William V Shannon, (who died in 1988) I have change a few of the words to make it contemporary.
Remember, this was written in 1972, and polls have become so much more intrusive since then.The season of the pollsters is again upon us. journalists and academics share responsibility with Real Clear Politics, Fox News, CNN and their competitor for turning political discourse into a guessing game--who's ahead?--rather than a debate on the substantive issues.
Even if the polls were unfailingly accurate in their predict5ions, their influence deforms the democratic dialogue. They encourage politicians to make practical calculations when they ought to be examining their convictions. When a nation sets out to choose a President, it should be encouraged to consider the possible alternative of public policy. Instead, and increasingly, American voters are having their pulse rate counted.
Let us have an end to all this nervous study of entrails and attempts to measure where the Trump vote might go or where the Democrats might go or whether the Democrats can close that three-point gap in Ohio or wherever. Society is not a closed laboratory, and free citizens do not lend themselves readily to experiments modeled on "objective" science. As another Presidential campaign warms up, It is time to set aside the scientific soothsayers and recall what politics is really all about.
He writes: "Society is not a closed laboratory, and free citizens do not lend themselves readily to experiments modeled on "objective" science." --or do they??
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