do you--DO!--feel like I do?

The Detroit Free Press conducted a strange poll in anticipation of tomorrow state primary, asking primary voters how they would "feel" if candidate x were to win the presidency come November. Not surprisingly, Hillary Clinton elicited some of the strongest responses.

Nearly four out of five people, 79%, who plan to vote in Tuesday's Republican primary said they would feel "not so good" or "terrible" if Clinton is elected.

Clinton evoked a similarly strong response from Democratic voters, with 36% saying they would feel "pretty good," and 32% saying they would feel "ecstatic," if she is elected.

Unlike many, I kind of like Hillary Clinton on a personal level. I just think she has a deplorable record in the senate and fine it fairly bizarre that any progressives would back a candidate who twice voted for the Patriot Act. Though not one of the choices in the poll, I'd feel "better" if she were elected in November and perhaps "worried," given that Clinton's stance on issues has been so strongly shaped by popular opinion.

I worry that this poll represents another instance of the media's intense focus on likeability and the disproportionate and sexist attention given to H.C.'s "do you like her?" factor. The problem, for me, with this focus is that it deflects attention from that senate record. Not unlike how the focus on our current president's verbal foils and anti-intellectual stance distracts from his frightening ideas.