Super Tuesday Tea Leaves

The race for the Republican nomination is in full swing with four runners left...er right. In their attempts to handicap the race and parse the rationale for voter choice, the pollsters and the media are making extensive use of entrance and exit polls. These are so effective that they dovetail quite well with the actual outcomes.

Last week we were watching the race for Michigan when a sampling of the exit-poll questions came across the screen. The one that got my attention was 'Are you a born again Christian?'
I never thought I'd see the day when that question would be relevant in any setting outside of a tent revival, but here we are.

How good a predictor of a person's choices are any of their personal attributes, opinions, predelictions, habits or traits? We don't know, but the answer must be 'very good' given the time, money and energy being invested in gathering data from every corner of our mundane little lives.
No detail is so small or obscure that something cannot be inferred or gleaned from it. This is the company the devil keeps, after all.

So in addition to one's 'born-again' status, the pollsters may soon want to know the answers to the following questions:

1. How do you feel about sweater-vests?
2. What's your blood type? Blood color?
3. How much would you wager on a casual bet?
4. Which do you prefer, silver or gold?
5.Would that preference apply to jewellery or currency - or both?
6. How much is your Tiffany's credit line?
7. Do you have a Cadillac and a horse at each residence?
8. Serial monogamy, polygamy or 'till death'? 
9. Widowhood aside, how many marriages would you say were too many?
10. If offered the option, would you live on another planet?

This data can be crunched, twisted, spun and massaged into a rock solid prediction, or at least something to feed the news cycle until the heir becomes (a bit more) apparent.