editors David Gergen and William Schambra look at polling's past and pres- ent; and analyst Everett Carl1 Ladd, Jr. offers his views on what Americans are thinking-and how their thinking has changed.

David Gergen and William Schambra
America, so it seems, is under siege. Armies of men and women, equipped with clipboards and pencils, sweep across the land, prying and probing into people's minds. The results are served up in hundreds of public opinion surveys for newspapers, TV networks, corporate m...