Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Is Dion being sideswiped by polls?
I have been one of Stéphane Dion's harshest critics from the moment he became leader. I believe he has failed to show leadership on many occasions before these polls showed up. However, it's these polls that bother me. Essentially, the SES poll on leadership a few days back and yesterday's Strategic Counsel version have done more to damage Dion's image as leader than anything else. I don't think that's right.
Polls are a snapshot taken out of the context of a ballot question. That's all. Yet, right on cue, almost everybody is construing them as fact. It's now fact that Dion is struggling and showing weak leadership. Why? Because a meaningless poll taken weeks before any potential election says so? Give me a break.
Unfortunately, polls are the lazy man's tool for political analysis. Harper had to deal with them while in opposition. Dion has to deal with them now. They seem to be an unfortunate but unavoidable evil in today's media driven democracy.
What can you do? Well, you can start by ignoring those blasted polls. They're not democracy.
Start using your brain. Start sizing up the leaders and how they're dealing with their circumstances. Stop relying on a poll to tell you what to think. That shouldn't be so hard, should it?
