Polls: Up, Down, and All Around

I haven't commented much about the various polls that have, alternately:

* Bush way ahead
* Kerry somewhat ahead
* Both in a dead heat

Why, should seem almost obvious, just from what you see here.

But there's more to it than that. I tend to suspect the people at home to answer the phone and willing to take a survey probably tend toward the Republican side of things (my bias: I avoid the phone like the plague, and most polls I get called on tend to be these long catch-all affairs). I also know a lot of people who would not answer a question like, "Who will you vote for?"

Right now, I'm not worried about the polls. I'm worried about people who are going to vote for Bush when it is NOT in their best interests, when they're being scammed. Yet there are people with a legitimate reason to vote for Bush: military industrial complex folks, million-and billionaires, people who feel challenged by civil rights and freedom of both religion and speech.

And if he gets re-elected, I'll be profoundly worried about all of us. As it is, I don't think life is going to marvelously and suddenly improve if Kerry is voted in. It's all a matter of degree.