Wednesday, October 3, 2007

ARE POLLS IMPORTANT

Does the average person pay attention to polls? Do the results of statewide surveys sway anyone’s opinion? Do our elected officials care?

As things got progressively worse for him and surveys would indicate the public’s disapproval, former Governor Jim McGreevey would constantly say, “I’m not poll-driven.” If that were true, why did his handlers call or e-mail reporters to complain almost every time a story was run that included McGreevey’s dismal poll numbers?

State Senate President Dick Codey is different with regard to polls. He was (again) acting Governor while elected Governor Jon Corzine was recovering from his near-fatal Parkway crash in April. In a one-on-one interview during his acting reign, I referenced Codey’s 70-percent approval rating as acting Governor his first time around. He quickly corrected me giving the exact upper 70-percent number.

Corzine is also inconsistent when it comes to polls. He’ll dismiss portions of surveys but use other numbers to illustrate a point he’s trying to make. Last week, during a press conference at Drumthwacket, the Governor said polls reveal voters rather see toll increases than tax hikes, but he omitted the fact that respondents said that only when asked to choose between Corzine still secret monetization plan or toll hikes.

The Legislature doesn’t get a pass. Poll numbers for the State Senate and General Assembly have been awful for years. Being in the minority in both Houses, Republicans are quick to use negative poll results to blast the opposition, but unless asked directly, lawmakers don’t mention a word about these surveys.

We’re all human. Everyone would prefer good poll numbers, but should the results matter in the grand scheme of things? It should be noted that the people being asked the questions are typically registered voters and these are the citizens our elected officials have been chosen to represent. It should difficult to be so dismissive of constituents.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Most "Polls"are Bogus,Due to the fact thay are so biased to the Left!!!!So!They are useless!

Anonymous said...

[url=http://www.kfarbair.com][img]http://www.kfarbair.com/_images/logo.png[/img][/url]

מלון [url=http://www.kfarbair.com]כפר בעיר[/url] - אינטימיות, [url=http://kfarbair.com/services.html]שקט[/url] . אנו מציעים שירותי אירוח מיוחדים גם יש במקום שירות חדרים המכיל [url=http://www.kfarbair.com/eng/index.html]סעודות רומנטיות[/url] במחירים מפתיעים אשר מוגשות ישירות לחדרכם.

לפרטים נא גשו לעמוד המלון - [url=http://kfarbair.com]כפר בעיר[/url] [url=http://www.kfarbair.com/contact.html][img]http://www.kfarbair.com/_images/apixel.gif[/img][/url]