That Sinking Feeling.(Survey)

THAT SINKING FEELING

ASK AMERICANS THEIR WORST VICE, AND PRIDE IS THE POPULAR ANSWER. BUT MOST WOULD HAVE SWALLOWED IT ON THE TITANIC AND RUN FOR THE LIFEBOATS.

Google "pride" and "America" and you get about 300 million results, so it's safe to say that the two words have a relationship, probably a long-standing one. And lo: our new poll shows that Americans consider pride the most tempting of the seven deadly sins, by quite a bit. (Curiosity got the better of us and we tried Googling "sloth" and "America": only 12 million results.) Other poll results this month reinforce the idea that pride is in our DNA. We're too proud, for instance, to drink on the job (or, anyway, roughly 9 out of 10 of us are). And we're party-proud ("party" of another sort in this case): according to responses to a question about one-term presidents, 51 percent of Republicans feel that …