I'm referring, of course, to the most enigmatic of all people, the undecided voters. From Zogby, again:
"Just 3 percent of persuadable voters said they would make up their minds after next week's Republican National Convention. An additional 31.8 percent will decide after the debates, 36.6 percent will decide during the last week of the campaign and 13.5 percent expect to decide when they walk into the voting booth."
Now, according to the article I took this from, there are about 2.6 million of these people. Is there not enough information out there for them? TV ads and news, newspaper, radio, internet, friends, family ... apparently all of this was not enough to persuade these people.
But the worst is the 13.5 percent (about 350,000!) that are planning to decide when they walk into the voting booth. Do we really want these people voting? It's like Homer trying to decide whether to vote for Sideshow Bob in the voting booth: "I don't approve of his Bart-killing policy ... but I do approve of his Selma-killing policy!"
Listen, if you're one of these people, let me help you out. Go to PresidentMatch.com, answer the questions, and vote for the person who corresponds to your interests. Okay?
"He's right!" "Give us hell, Quimby!"
Monday, August 30, 2004
You people are nothing but a pack of fickle mush-heads!
Posted by Bell Curve at 6:41 AM
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5 comments:
It is true that many voters don't seem to bother to think much about it. They get little independent information, believe nearly everything they hear and have contradictory expectations from the candidates. But it should make you feel better that such confused voters are likely to vote randomly and so might just as well have not voted at all.
This election will have a lot of fools voting in it, but it will be decided by the better informed and/or more comitted voters.
Don't forget the sizable group of people who equate open-mindedness with saying "I don't know" in response to a pollster. These are the same people who think it is the "intelligent" thing to do to claim that one is an independent. To me, such an "independent" is an unobservant and uninformed person who cannot tell what side his bread is buttered on. This group includes a surprising number of people that are intelligent, but not politically astute. Those who, for example, say they vote "for the person, not the party" -- but don't realize they're ignoring substantive policy and voting for their favorite pre-packaged media persona.
So yes, stop being a fickle mushhead. Figure out which party will implement the best policies and vote for its leaders, whether or not you think the media has made them (or their families) cuddly.
Here's the problem with the mush-heads voting randomly: it's very unlikely that they will split 50-50 exactly. Let's say they split 51-49. Not much of a difference, you might say. But when there are 350,000 of them, that's a 7,000 vote swing for one of the candidates! That number could have turned the 2000 election in several states.
I personally agree with voting for the best candidate regardless of party, but that policy only makes a difference for a very few people who are really in the middle between the two parties. Realistically, most people will agree with one party 75% of the time.
But why vote, unless you are in a swing state? And where are these swing states, and why don't I get invited to the parties...?
All the states that border one of the Great Lakes excpet for Illinois and New York are swing states. So are the rapidly urbanizing states of the desert South West. Florida is a swing state too because of rapid urbanization and population growth.
All the states that used to allow slavery (except for Florida) are not swing states. Interstingly, Maryland and Deleware are the only former slave states that vote for the Democratic party these days. None of the states with urban areas with more than 5 million people in them are swing states.
As for why should you vote if you don't live in a swing state....your state may be closer than you think and there are other things on the ballot where you live than just the Presidency. You might be surprised who is running your local school district for example. Look into it friend "Anonymous."
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