Election pollsters must find a better methodology. Their credibility is at stake.

Unreliable polls

This presidential election has made it evident that the methodology used for years by pollsters is no longer valid. The inaccuracy of the polls, across the board, was stunning.

Relying on calls to telephone landlines and the candor of those willing to answer that phone is clearly outdated. Flipping a coin would produce more accuracy.

It’s up to the pollsters to fix this if their credibility is to be restored.

Merlin Villar, Huntersville

Deeper discussion

The Nov. 6 op-ed by Jay Ambrose on our obsession with polling was excellent and raised a critical point — we need more thoughtful thinking and discussion of the issues.

It is a rare article or TV show that goes beyond the top-line talking points of a particular position on an issue. In fact, one usually doesn’t have to read the article or view the TV show once the author is known.

Most issues and potential solutions are more complex than top-line talking points. We would be much better off if we could have these deeper conversations.

Jim Wright, Rock Hill

Mitch McConnell

The Nov. 6 Forum writer who said, “The Democrats progressive agenda comes to a flying halt when Mitch McConnell puts the hammer to the nail,” may have spoken prematurely. There are two Georgia runoff elections in January that may determine control of the Senate. Let’s see what happens in Georgia. McConnell may not even be majority leader after early January.

Richard French, Davidson

Dem’s resistance

The writer of “I’m tired too,” (Nov. 3 Forum) listed a very short list of the good President Trump has done. It is amazing that the president has been able to accomplish anything at all given the opposition he has dealt with every day of his administration. I shudder to think what he could have done had there been even a tiny bit of cooperation from the Democrats.

Mandy Smith, Albemarle

Trim the ballot

My November ballot contained 75 names for a wide range of federal, state and local offices. In many respects, It was overwhelming to determine who to vote for.

What could improve the process? The governor and lieutenant governor should run as a team, as in federal elections and in many states. I could say the same for the heads of the Departments of Agriculture, Public Instruction, Labor, and Insurance. All cabinet-level posts should be appointed by the governor.

Voters then should hold the governor accountable for the actions and policies of these departments. This approach would focus accountability on the governor and streamline the voting process.

David Sweet, Charlotte

Davidson College

Davidson College is facing criticism for not directly rebutting a quote from U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy, one of its alums. (Oct. 26)

Murphy’s assertion that Kamala Harris got the vice presidential nomination only because of her race did score a trifecta of offensiveness: dimwitted, misogynistic and racist.

Nevertheless, Davidson is right not to engage in policing its graduates’ political speech. After all, going into politics often shrinks a person’s IQ by about 100 points. At that point, grads are on their own.

Davidson’s first response was a bit bureaucratic, but the second, from President Carol Quillen, was perfect — thoughtful, pointed, robust and straight from the heart. It more than suffices.

Ed Williams, Charlotte

Expand the court

With the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett we can see the full composition of the Supreme Court: three women, six men, including a Black male, two Jews, and seven Catholics. Obviously, nine justices aren’t enough to approximate the diversity of our nation’s 330 million citizens.

The next president should create a commission to study ways to diversify the court. I suggest increasing the number of justices to 15. Republican and Democrats in the Senate would each choose seven. The president would choose the chief justice, whose term would coincide with the president’s.

This structure would diversify the court, balance member’s philosophies, and remove the desperate passions that accompany the replacement of justices.

Brian Tarr, Charlotte

Climate change

Regarding “UN: Climate change means more weather disasters every year,” (Oct. 13):

This article said more than 11,000 disasters over the past 50 years can be attributed to weather and phenomena such as tsunamis, causing 2 million deaths and $3.6 trillion in damages.

Climate change is a threat unlike any we’ve seen, affecting everyone — farmers facing drought, firemen fighting larger and more destructive blazes, coastal dwellers seeing their homes destroyed due to hurricanes.

Climate change is the most challenging and significant long-term problem we will face in our lifetimes, and it demands immediate action. We must hold elected officials accountable for combating such an existential threat.

Lauren Chiaradio, Matthews

This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 1:02 PM.