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Depends on What the Meaning of "Polls" IsBush says he doesn't use polls. An adviser says he did.

By William Saletan
Posted Thursday, April 15, 2004, at 3:58 PM ET

"And as to whether or not I make decisions based upon polls, I don't. I just don't make decisions that way."

—President Bush, White House press conference, April 13

"It was no accident that President Bush passed up five chances on Tuesday night to offer regrets, contrition or an acknowledgement that he might have made mistakes in handling the Sept. 11 attacks or the war in Iraq. … One adviser said the White House had examined polling and focus group studies in determining that it would be a mistake for Mr. Bush to appear to yield."

—New York Times, April 15

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William Saletan is Slate's national correspondent and author of Bearing Right: How Conservatives Won the Abortion War.
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