Solved it pretty quickly, following a rejoinder in the forums by VeryMisunderstood urging me to keep tracking down the conflicting module.

I was hoping I wouldn't have to track the bad boy down, both because of a) the nuisance factor, and b) fear of what I might find. Oh well, nothing to do but roll up the sleeves and de-conflict.

The first fear didn't turn out so bad. My old-school (pre-OS X) Mac training came in handy: it was just like pinning down an extension conflict. And I found the user-contrib module that clashed with Polls.

My second fear erupted like Krakatoa. Oh dear sweet Odin in Asgard, why did it have to be Node Teaser? Anything, ANYTHING but Node Teaser, so young, so innocent...

But, long story short, when the histrionics had been quashed and the police mollified with tearful promises that no more furniture would fly from the balcony, I checked and found that I was using Node Teaser 5.x-1.0, while the more recent 5.x-1.1 plays nicely with Polls.

So I upgraded and now have a poll: http://www.drupalace.com/poll_what_should_we_call_drupal_users . Lookin' good there, Poll!

Well, things still aren't perfect. You see, when I toss out a poll, I like to say a few words on what it's all about. Why this question, what will the answer be used for, etc. A few lame words of introduction.

But Polls doesn't offer me a Body field, or any field with which to do that. Editing the poll content type (admin/content/types/poll), I see a field "Body field label". Entering a name here (like "Body") is apparently supposed to introduce a body field into into my polls. But it doesn't work for me; no body. (At the risk of writing a blues song, I ask: Is it just me, or is it everybody gots no body?)

So as in my poll mentioned above, I use the teaser field to write my little intro. Sounds like problem solved, right? Well, no: I'd actually like my entire poll to appear on the front page, so you don't need to click the title and display the node page just to vote. But if I write a teaser, a teaser is what I get on the front page instead. So I can have the front page display my teaser text or the actual poll, but not both. (What's more, with no body text, I have no way to have my intro text appear in the poll's node page itself, without calling on a block or other solution. There's just the poll there, no intro text.)

That ties in with my wish for a more comprehensive, flexible core teaser system that plays nicely with all parts; see Drupal Wish #2: Easier Teasers. (I have it on good hint that Drupal 6 may offer a lot of help here. Must investigate!)

Oh, and if there's some silly reason why I'm not getting a body field in my poll nodes, somebody please let me know!