Polls, polls and more polls.  Look up the definition of poll (that’s p-o-l-l).  The Oxford dictionary says there are 18 meanings of the word poll as a noun, 5 of which are obsolete, leaving 13.  Of course a poll is a place where people vote in an election but the one I want to talk about is an activity in which several people are asked a question or series of questions in order to get information about what most people think.   In Canada we have polling firms such as Angus-Reid, Nanos Research, Ipsos, and Abacus Data.  I get emails from one or more of them with their latest polls, or surveys, which are essentially the same thing except they call it a survey when there are more detailed questions than a poll.  You know who is crazy about polls?  The U.S., especially nowadays with their presidential election looming closer all the time.    Today’s poll from somewhere or other says Harris is up here and Trump is up there.  Yesterday’s poll from somewhere else said Trump was down over here while Harris was up over there.  It’s hard to keep up with their polls, they have so many from different sources.  The Washington Post had an article that said polls are ruining American politics, so stop paying attention.  That makes some sense.  A poll that asks a question in July about which politician you think you will vote for in November’s election may get a different answer from the poll asking the same question in September.  A poll is just a snapshot of our opinion on something on a particular day and opinions can change.   

That’s Coffeetalk.  I’m Vic Dubois.