Gallup Poll

I took a Gallup poll tonight. That was actually kind of cool. The phone rang and the caller ID read “Gallup”. Victoria and I looked at each other and let it ring. But for some reason, I picked it up.
Nothing terribly exciting about taking a poll, but I never had before. So what the hell? The questions were about the U.S. Mint. I assume they were trying to gauge people’s perceptions about the U.S. Mint. I know it wasn’t supposed to be informative (they were asking me questions about my perceptions, after all), but the questions that they asked made me think about some things and maybe make some connections that I might not have made otherwise.
I thought one of the last questions was funny. It asked whether I thought the Franklin Mint was part of the U.S. Mint, and did they mint government coins or their own. Um … are there people who really don’t know the answer to that? Then it occurred to me that the answer is obviously “yes”. Christ, there are people who couldn’t find the Atlantic ocean on a map.
All in all, it was an interesting experience. Both because of the things that it turned out that I didn’t know and because I was surprised by how much I did know about the U.S. Mint. I’m sure I’ll be digging up more information.