I wasn’t sure if this should go under “Elections”, but it seemed more of a debate subject that about a specific election.
I’m watching the Mayoral race here in Chicago, and it seems Rahm Emmanuel is running away with it. Seems like it is the key here.
I’m no political expert, but it seems to me that the so called will of the people would be better served if we had no idea who would win an election ahead of time. Sort of like we have no idea who will win the Oscar ahead of time.
After all, if a candidate someone doesn’t like is 20% ahead in the polls or whatever, doesn’t a lot of voter apathy set in? Wouldn’t people who would otherwise go out and vote for a candidate they prefer, feel like “what’s the use?” if their favorite is lagging significantly behind? Doesn’t this sort of make the polls decide the election instead of the voters?
What makes these polls so infallible anyway? It’s just a random sampling of a brace of surveys. Why should the results of 600 people decide ahead of time the choice of what should be millions of people on the day of election?
I’m trying to see a downside to banning political polling, but I can’t come up with anything. Can you?