polls | Ain't Complicated

Here I sit, waiting for my slow (31.2 KB) dial-up connection to muddle its way through Amazon’s Pro Seller (or whatever it’s called by now) site.

So I looked at headlines at Drudge and Newsmax.

Do five simple things a day to stay sane, say scientists

Simple activities such as gardening or mending a bicycle can protect mental health and help people to lead more fulfilled and productive lives, a panel of scientists has found.

[…]

“A big question in mental wellbeing is what individuals can do,” Felicia Huppert, Professor of Psychology at the University of Cambridge, who led part of the project, said. “We found there are five categories of things that can make a profound difference to people’s wellbeing. Each has evidence behind it.” These actions are so simple that everyone should aim to do them daily, she said, just as they are encouraged to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables.

Five steps to sanity. That shouldn’t be too hard.

Palin: Election Result Rests ‘In God’s Hands’

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin describes herself as a “hard-core pro-lifer” and expresses confidence that in spite of disheartening polls, “putting this in God’s hands, that the right thing for America will be done at the end of the day on Nov. 4.”

She is right.

Reboot!

Well, actually boot is more accurate:

If given the choice, a new poll reveals, 59 percent of Americans would sweep Capitol Hill clean of the current batch of senators and representatives to elect an entirely new Congress.

“If given the choice”?! What’s that supposed to mean? Every two years they get the choice to sweep the House! Anyway, back to the article:

Only 17 percent of those polled said they would be willing to keep the current Legislature.

Rasmussen Reports conducted the national telephone survey on the heels of Congress passing a widely unpopular financial bailout bill, revealing a significant amount of voter dissatisfaction with the nation’s current legislators.

The polling firm records a mere 30 percent of voters approved of the bailout, while 45 percent were opposed, and yet Congress passed it, leaving behind some highly critical voters.

Wow! Seventeen percent. But will they actually vote that way? I suspect not.

That aside, though, let’s hear it for Congress: They actually voted against the polled wishes of the electorate. Sometimes it seems the Congress can’t win. If they vote by the polls, they’re castigated for that. If they vote contrary to the polls, they’re accused of disregarding the will of the American people.

Two more items from the story:

Further, less than half (49 percent) believe the current Congress is any more capable than a group of people plucked from the phone book, and nearly a third (33 percent) think the phone book congress would do a better job.

Despite the Legislature’s dismal 11 percent approval rating, Rasmussen Reports pointed out that 90 percent of Congress is likely to remain following this November’s election.

Oh wait. Get a load of this:

Rasmussen Reports dug into history to reveal that for well over 100 years after the U.S. Constitution was adopted, congressional turnover in national elections averaged about 50 percent. Following the New Deal era, however, those numbers began to decline. Since 1968, no national election has managed to muster even a 10 percent turnover.

So there you are.

While I Waited

A Survey to Light Your Face