Polling as ritual

In contemporary U.S. politics, the practice of consulting the latest poll has become a ritual like consulting the oracle was to the ancient Greeks. In this essay I argue that polling is not just an instrumental means to manipulate or reflect public attitudes, but is also a cultural form that sustains and affirms deeply held founding mythologies about community, democracy, and vox populi. By appropriating and controlling the terms of dissent, polling ritual enables the national congregation to affirm its unity in spite of difference. Thus, what is constructed through polling ritual is social solidarity rather than public policy.