  We present a method to characterize the polarization state of a light field
in the continuous-variable regime. Instead of using the abstract formalism of
SU(2) quasidistributions, we model polarization in the classical spirit by
superposing two harmonic oscillators of the same angular frequency along two
orthogonal axes. By describing each oscillator by a $s$-parametrized
quasidistribution, we derive in a consistent way the final function for the
polarization. We compare with previous approaches and discuss how this
formalism works in some relevant examples.
