FEATURED ARTICLE: Polls and Mass Perception: Trump vs. Hillary

Daren Jonescu

Modernity has succumbed to the perceptual illusion that candidates' campaigns are like physical objects hurtling through space, subject to laws of momentum and inertia, rather than acts of moral persuasion entirely at the mercy of the reasoned choices and free will of private individuals.......(Trump's well-documented malleability and opportunism on issues, his past willingness to support establishment causes and candidates, and his evident lack of stable, core principles to guide his politics, probably explain why, as Roger Kimball points out, the GOP elite seem to be slowly warming to his candidacy.  With Jeb Bush hopeless and Rubio looking doubtful, Trump becomes their last hope, so the theory goes, to stop the candidate they fear and despise most, Cruz.) .........

I suggest you use in reading political polls and the reporting thereon: an independent mind, common sense, a healthy skepticism about all reporting of political "trends," and your own conscience.  Or to put it more simply, I recall my old uncle John, a gruff-talking miner of Romanian descent living in a town full of semi-friendly ethnic rivalry.  He wore a cap with earflaps, which when pulled down revealed the description "Ukrainian BS Protector."  (I censored that a little.)  Pull down your Poll-Reporter BS Protectors before you lose your republic to the witch doctors of mass psychology.

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My Take - This is a long article worth reading.  I've not given polls credibility for over 25 years.  Can honest polls tell us things? Sure!  But unfortunately even polls that are conducted honestly by honest pollsters are subject to the whims of the people being polled - in short - they lie!