Steven Waldman

Steven Waldman

Power of Positive Thinking vs. Avoiding The Jinx

posted by swaldman | 12:21pm Monday October 27, 2008

As we get close to the election, I’ve met two types of Obama advocates:
1) Those who insist Obama is going to lose, on the theory that saying he’ll win will jinx the outcome
2) Those who insist Obama is going to win because by embracing that happy thought they can, through the power of positive thinking, make it come true.
McCain fans, meanwhile, seem to all think he’s going to lose, which strikes me as odd given that other candidates have made up more ground in the last week. Nationally, at least, there are several polls showing a tightening of the race:
GWU: Obama 3 points up
Gallup: 5 points (likely voters traditional model)
Rasmussen: 5 points
Zogby: 5 points
I know there are other polls showing greater margins but there are enough now showing it tightening that it needs to be taken seriously.
Which camp are you in? The jinx-phobic or a believer that if you visualize victory, it will happen?



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