As of this writing, three readers have written in to complain about my article today discussing four recent polls that together reveal significant discontent among voters. That’s not a groundswell, but LiveScience exists for it readers, so I take the concerns seriously. Excerpts of the complaints:

Dan: I am extraordinarily disappointed to see the blatantly political article “Americans are mad as..” on LiveScience.com. The only purpose of the article, as far I can discern, seems to be to demonstrate your editor’s own political biases.
Walter: I keep looking at the LiveScience header to see if a new category has been added labeled “Politics” or “Opinion”…I don’t see one. Please stick to what you do best (I love the website), i.e.,SCIENCE.

Gibbons: LiveScience.com is a great science site. Please don’t pollute it with politics.

I can see how the article generated this concern. We have not heretofore covered politics extensively. We do report on polls, and you’ll find many in our archives. And we do report on politics when there is some interesting science (including polls) that provides insight we find compelling. While polling is imprecise, good ones are done scientifically and often offer the best and only way to find out what segments of the population are thinking.

All realms of science are imprecise at times and to varying degrees, and researchers frequently speculate on what their findings mean. We try to point out fact vs. speculation in our stories. Ultimately, politics and science can’t be artificially separated as some would like. Politicians make decisions that affect how science is done, how much money goes to research, and how businesses and individuals affect the environment. Some of the discontent right now that shows up in the polls is related to high gas prices, an issue that has many scientific and technological aspects.

In this case, I didn’t report on a single poll, but rather found four that together indicate a pretty strong sentiment out there. Regardless of my political views, I find that interesting and thought many of our readers would, too.

All that said, trust that LiveScience will continue to focus on new discoveries and fascinating scientific endeavors. That will always be our main mission. And keep the emails coming. There is no better way to contribute to LiveScience’s continued improvement than by telling us what you love and what you don’t.