Why don't we spread these numbers around more often? Or, maybe we should hide them and not let anyone ever see them.
Job Approval Approve Disapprove Spread
Obama 47.6% 45.8% +1.8%
Congress 27.3% 66.8% -39.5%
Does anyone else think we spend way too much time on polls? Why are we governing by polls? It's really dangerous and I don't think enough research has been done on it. But it seems simple enough; if you have enough sheep, they will see the numbers above for the first time and then a day or so later, they are quizzed. Will they buck the trend? Of course not! Sheep don't like to be alone and so the numbers will drop for that poll. And then again and again.
Not to mention that polls are notorious for leading the sheep to the answer that the pollster wants. This makes all polls suspicious. And dangerous.
People like a horse race, I guess. Polls build a weird momentum independent of actual events, then begin to define them. Right now, there's a perception that Obama put health care ahead of the economy. That's not the case on two accounts: (1) The stimulus and the auto company bailout preceded the health care debate, and (2) you can't deal with the economy independent of health care, anyway: Health care is simply too big a part of the economy. But, the perception reinforced by polls will push Obama to address the economy in 2010 at the expense of climate change, immigration reform, don't ask don't tell, Guantanamo, and anything else you can think except for terrorism.
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