Mini Poll: Ringing the Bellwether

Although Missouri has lost some of its luster as a bellwether, the St. Louis region has not. Marketers, political consultants, other researchers confidently believe that St. Louis is a useful microcosm of America-minus-the coasts. That’s why you likely receive an extra helping of calls and emails asking what you eat, wear, and watch.

This week's Mini-Poll hopes to take advantage of our St. Louis bellwether status to predict whether or not the country's heartland is beginning to quicken its beat after several years of pessimism. Our research plan was to select a range of expectations and institutions and see if you are optimistic or pessimistic about their track over the past year. We are confident that most readers will object to some of the elements we have decided to measure - and that all readers will have elements that they wished we had included instead.

The overall results of this survey should be interesting. Be sure to check the results page.