Undecided Voters -- The Norm?
At the end of my book group meeting on Tuesday, the hostess noted that we would not be meeting again until after the primary and asked how many people had decided what candidate to support. There were 12 of us in the room, all women. Only one had made up her mind, and she is supporting Obama. The rest of us (all Democrats or independents voting in the Democratic primary) are very much up in the air, vacillating between Hillary, Obama, and Edwards. It was striking to me that 92 percent of us are still undecided, four weeks before we have to vote.
We all noted how little we knew about the candidates' real positions, since all you hear are sound bites and articles on their sniping at each other. I have learned more about John Edwards than anyone else, thanks to a small booklet that a 10-year-old supporter dropped off at my house two weeks ago. On any issue, there was a short summary of his position, several quotations by people affected by the issue, and a specific link to a section of his web site on which you could learn more. I wish the other candidates would start providing the same kind of information (other than expecting you to spend a hour maneuvering through his or her web site).
The one common denominator in our discussion was that our primary determinant at this point was to figure out who could win.
OOPS I support 7 candidates, but I can only vote for one!!!??Submitted by GuateUNH on Tue, 12/18/2007 - 01:18.
Reading your note have made me realize that many voters we are still undecided.One out of 12 people in your book group do not know who are they going to vote for. If we make this a representative statistic, only around 9% of the people know who they want to vote for. Christmas is almost here. Are people too busy with the holiday, that they forget about politics?I personally thought people were going to make up their mind around this time. Campaigns are doubling their efforts in Iowa and N.H. At this point is hard to determine who is going to be the democratic nominee. The presidential candidates have to start informing more people about their positions and views on issues. It is time to stop vacilating and be terse.