internet polls

I hate to admit it, but I often am a sucker for those side-bar polls that you find on internet websites. Yes, as a political science major I know just how unreliable polling is, and as a decently intelligent person, I can pretty much figure how inaccurate internet polls are. However, there is something fascinating about them -- I think it goes into the whole "click activism" phenom - that we can feel like we're being active & connected even though we're at home on our computers.

Anyway -- I just took one of these polls and the results were quite scary. 70% of those answered said that terrorism is the "greatest threat of our times" while less than 1% said global warming. And these are Slate readers, so I'd only hate to guess what the results would be like on foxnews.com Another question asked what communications do you consider to be "most personal." 70% said cell phone conversations, while less than 1% said banking information or medical records. Whoa -- I guess those polled believe that their completely unsecured conversations in the grocery store are "more personal" than their doctor-patient privileged medical records? Ah, geeze.