Keller @ Large: Sick Of 2012 Campaign Already

BOSTON (CBS) - Outside of the weather, there's nothing in the news that affects all of us more than politics.

The identity of those who hold the power to pass laws, spend our tax dollars and take us to war is arguably the most important thing we have control over.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

So it's somewhat disturbing to see the results of a new USA Today/Gallup poll asking Americans if they can't wait for the voting to begin in the race for president, or can't wait for it be over.

We're still weeks away from the first caucuses in Iowa and the first primary votes in New Hampshire, and nationally, 70-percent of Americans say they've already had it with the ads, the debates, and the endless rhetoric.

Only 26-percent say they're eager to see the campaign fully engaged.

The results are even worse in the 12 swing states, including Iowa, New Hampshire, Florida and Ohio, that are expected to determine the final outcome.

There, 75-percent say they've already seen and heard quite enough.

These aren't partisan results – Democrats and Republicans appear to feel the same way.

And the pollsters note that despite their claim to be fed up with the campaign, 57-percent of us say we've already given a lot of thought to the election, and 72-percent confess to a degree of enthusiasm about casting our votes next November.

So what's it all mean?

I prefer to give these results a positive spin.

Yes, we're good and sick of the campaign, and why shouldn't we be?

When the candidates aren't engaging in grotesque vitriol toward one another, they're grotesquely pandering to us based on what they think we want to hear.

And unless you're willing to put your brain on hold and believe that President Obama wants to destroy America from within, or that Mitt Romney hates poor people and wants them all dead, there's a good chance you're turned off by the persistence of those claims.

But I read these results as saying that despite all of that, people do care about who gets the power.

They just have the common sense to know that the parties, the candidates, and sadly, much of the media, are talking more trash than truth.

What would really be scary is if people said they were liking that kind of treatment.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.