Polls apart

You gotta love all those polls. Let's not talk about where the country is going, but the handbasket is already on order:

WASHINGTON - The Democratic-controlled Congress and President Bush seem locked in a perverse competition for public unfavorability, according to a new Associated Press-Ipsos poll.

The survey shows Bush's approval ratings at 35 percent, and Congress' even lower, 25 percent. Only 27 percent of those polled said the country is headed in the right direction, and 39 percent said they support the Iraq war, with 58 percent opposed.

On the other hand:

A surprising 94 percent of Americans say they are satisfied with their lives . . .

[. . .]

The Harris Poll of more than 1,000 people reported the overall "satisfaction" level, defined as people who said they were either very or somewhat satisfied with their lot, was up 4 percentage points, from 90 percent two years ago.

The country is out of control, but I'm happy? Is there as big a disconnect as that? Or are such polls meaningless? I opt for the latter, and think it's a sign of journalism's decline that we make so much of tracking people's fleeting emotions and calling it news.