As The Note hypothesized, polls really are "crack for the weak." Scientists asked political stalwarts on either side to watch videos of Kerry and Bush while they monitored the participants' brains:
"We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning," said Drew Westen, director of clinical psychology at Emory University. "What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts."
...
But activity spiked in the circuits involved in reward, a response similar to what addicts experience when they get a fix, Westen explained.
Two important points: (1) this study did not have a control group (though sometimes subjects were asked to listen to Tom Hanks), and (2) both Democrats' and Republicans' brains reacted with disgust when shown pictures of John Kerry. (Okay, that second one is pure conjecture on my part.)
Oh the sad, sad state of political psychology.
Are you lamenting the results or the methodology?