"An opinion is not a momentary thing but a process of thinking, shaped by the continuous acquisition of knowledge and the activity of questioning, discussion, and debate.

A question may 'invite' an opinion, but it also may modify and recast it; we might better say that people do not exactly "have" opinions but are, rather, involved in 'opinioning.'

That an opinion is conceived of as a measurable thing falsifies the process by which people, in fact, do their opinioning and how people do their opinioning goes to the heart of the meaning of a democratic society.

Polling tells us nothing about this, and tends to hide the process from our view."