Look, the news media have long indulged themselves in the lazy luxury of being both data-hungry and math-phobic. Anytime a newsmaker, an interview subject, a politician, a pundit cites data, we really need to hear where that data came from.

There have been politicians and pundits on both sides of this issue who have tried to claim the mantle of popularity. That’s true on almost any issue. It is important, to the extent we can, to call them on it. We have to overcome this notion that life can be boiled down, in, in this case, to a single number.

There’s more complexity there. You know, any other news that comes in over the transom, we check it out before we report it because that’s our responsibility. If it’s polling data, it’s too sexy, it’s too compelling. We’re all English majors, and we just want to pick it up and use it. We need to stop and check this stuff out too. That is happening more at some good news organizations, but not enough at enough of them.