BRIEFS: A really, really big word and polls

Antidisestablishmentarianism is alive and well

We thought we’d never, ever be able to use this 28-letter, 12-syllable word in a headline, much less in any kind of writing. But today in South Carolina, we find our political environment a charged battle between antidistablishmentarianism and regular-old disestablishmentarianism.

The bigger word stems from a political position in 19^th century England that opposed proposals to “disestablish” the Church of England as the country’s state church. Over time, it has become more generally — albeit infrequently — used to convey opposition to those who oppose the establishment.

So in South Carolina, that means establishment candidates — Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and John Kasich — who are trying to shut down non-establishment candidacies of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are the 2016 antidisestablishmentarian candidates.

Got that?

A look at the polls just before Saturday’s GOP primary

As the state heads towards Saturday’s GOP primary, voters might want to take a look at the latest polls. The best source we’ve found is Real Clear Politics, which offers averages of several recent polls. Using averages is a powerful tool because it smoothes sampling errors, bias and differences of style into a general look at what’s likely happening at a given time.

As of when we published Friday and based on polls since Sunday, Donald Trump continued to have a commanding lead (33 percent), but it’s dropped from more than 20 points to about 15. Sen. Ted Cruz was in second with 18 percent, followed by Sen. Marco Rubio, who moved up a few points, especially due to the endorsement by Gov. Nikki Haley. It wouldn’t be surprising for Rubio to come in second, which could change the tenor of the election. At the bottom are Jeb Bush (10.5), John Kasich (10) and Ben Carson (7).

On the Democratic side, which will offer a primary on Feb. 27, Sen. Bernie Sanders seems to keep picking up support, but Hillary Clinton remains 24 points ahead. According to the RCP average, she has about 57 percent of the vote, compared to 33 percent by Sanders.