ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Is anyone else as sick of these damn things as I am?

Opinion Polls
Leonie Parker © 2011

Seems anybody can be polled, don’t even have to be enrolled,
just click a ‘submit’ button and you too can have your say.
The television news at six reports the polls and then predicts
the outcome of elections if they should be held today.

The workings of democracy seem somewhat like hypocrisy
and often leave me shaking my admitted muddled head.
It seems like only yesterday the chant was “Turn the boats away,
these people throw their children overboard,” we heard it said.

It didn’t happen overnight these things are never black and white
but over time we saw the polls begin to change and shift.
A change of Government was due, the polls said so; it must be true.
When we’re displeased it seems that retribution can be swift.

A brand new leader felt the pain, in record time we changed again
and then the polls were saying it was Kevin on the nose.
A challenger poised to attack (some say she stabbed him in the back)
but it’s a jungle out there and that’s just the way it goes.

And now if you’re a refugee seems Julia’s humanity
is seen as sorely lacking and the court has answered ‘no’
to plans of processing off shore. The general public all abhor
the thought of off shore processing … at least the polls say so.

So now we’ve changed our minds and say we’d rather have it back the way
it was before opinions saw the knives unsheathed to kill.
“Bring Kevin back,” the polls declared, but either way displeasure’s aired,
the party’s popularity is on a slide downhill.

The Opposition Leader gloats and says that he will stop the boats.
The polls are saying that success is not beyond his ken.
But there might be a little wait before you get a shot old mate
so keep your fingers crossed the polls will hold up until then.

The fact that we are firmly polled, (and every night we then are told
the outcome), might explain how we got where we are today.
The Government just stumbles on, the voting public grumbles on
and how I wish that we could chuck the bloody polls away.

A word to all the helpful souls conducting the opinion polls,
I wonder if you’re hearing what we really have to say.
I’m sure you’ve heard it all before, but let me say it just once more.
The only poll that matters is the one on voting day.

Go Leonie- you nailed it with this one - hope you are emailing it to all the local pollies, will give them a break from all the emails they are getting over the live cattle export polls

Another excellent one Leonie, as Maureen said you have pretty well hit this one on the head.
It's not just the Pollies that drive me up the wall; The media are just as bad or worse, they're no longer just happy reporting the news, they now want to create it as well.

Terry

Glad to hear I'm not the only one, and Terry you are so right about the media wanting to create the news. I think that's what's ticking me off. It feels like they are trying to tell us what we should think. We've got some news of our own for them.

I wonder who supposedly answers these polls Leonie. I have NEVER been interviewed by a pollster. Maybe they are just media fabrications.

I'm with you, a pox on their polls. How can examining 100 people in a population of 2 million give any indication of the true situation ?

VOTE LEONIE mate she's the one and only

good on you leonie

Bill just cut me off and I lost my post curses.

Hi Leonie & Nevile,

I have actually been polled in a couple of the bigger polls, I suppose I should feel honored.
Perhaps those of who been selected in this way should be issued with armbands or something similar to advertize our status.

Terry