Covering the Polls…Paying the Price
Steve Adubato, Ph.D.
CBS 2 Political Analyst

It’s hard to tell what is going to happen next Tuesday in this historic Presidential election.  It depends upon which poll you look at.  We in the media obsess over polls.  We live for polls.  We would die if we didn’t have polls.  Polls are easy.  They give us hard numbers, who’s ahead, who’s behind, and what it all adds up to.  We in the media cover political events pretty much like they are sporting events, and what would a sporting event be without keeping score? 

Yet, Presidential elections are a lot more than contests between competing campaigns that determine a winner on a particular day.  Elections should really be about ideas for solving America’s complex and difficult problems.  Campaigns should be about helping the American public understand the nature of the problems we face.  And we in the media have a tremendous responsibility to compare and contrast proposals from each Presidential candidate as to how they are going to deal with these problems. 

Forty- four million Americans don’t have healthcare.  The Medicare system is shaky.  Social Security remains in big trouble.  The US Defense department is fighting on too many fronts, and we’re bleeding billions of dollars on the “War on Terror.”  Further, the American economic system is in tatters.  Too many people are losing their jobs, and countless others are losing their retirement savings.  And that’s just the beginning.  We’re too dependent on foreign oil and energy sources, and we haven’t figured out how to pay for all the things we say we want both in America and abroad. 

Here’s my point— we in the media may have fun debating and discussing who is ahead based in the dozens of polls that feed us hard numbers that we can digest and report on.  But the larger question remains: how much are we really helping American voters understand why this election is so important?  We, as citizens, have a responsibility to better understand the challenges we face, and how each candidate would govern.  Simply put, we in the media too often report on what’s easy, and polls are really easy.  Issues are hard.  Our problems aren’t “sexy”, and won’t get you great ratings.  But at the same time, at some point we’re going to realize that our inability and/or unwillingness to find creative and imaginative ways to cover complex issues and problems in our country is part of the problem and takes us further away from any solutions. 

Of course, covering the horserace can be dramatic leading up to a very exciting election night.  As a journalist, I’ll be there too as part of the fun and the theatrics.  However, when the election is over, we in the media should commit to working just a little harder to cover, discuss and analyze what’s really ailing our country and what our new President needs to do to move forward and make progress.  Some might call what I’m proposing elitist and a bit unrealistic.  I say, it’s long overdue and desperately needed.

What do you think?  Write to me at SAdubato@aol.com

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