The ultimate Irony of Poll-Driven Pandering
Conduct a poll of voters and ask them this:
"Should politicians do what they think is the right answer or should they do what public opinion polls suggest would be popular?"
The public reliably comes down heavily on the "ignore polls" side.
To paraphrase Orwell, some polling results are more equal than others.
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Here's a funny one. The public really cares about the deficit. That datum drives a lot of economy-wrecking bullshit.
The public, however, opposes every method for reducing the deficit. (Except, and this only in the last few years, raising taxes on the rich.)
This suggests that the anti-deficit polling is irrelevant because the public negates its own supposed view whenever specifics are discussed.
The public view is, "I do not like the deficit but I also do not want it solved."
How that turns into, "Let's wreck the economy because the voters will reward us for it" is somewhat mysterious.