On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 11:15 AM, PGage <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 4:32 AM, Doug Fields <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> It's the hard-core Republicans and Democrats, who are going to vote along >> their party lines no matter what, who more closely resemble your analogy of >> people who should be able to form their opinion based on minimal exposure to >> the issues being discussed. The current "undecideds" are arguably the most >> valuable voters still in play. They haven't surrendered to the polarization >> between the far right and far left, who made their decision more than a year >> ago, when there wasn't nearly enough information available to make an >> "informed" decision. > > This is something I am really very interested in, and I would love it > if Doug could shed some light here. For the sake of argument I will > grant your premise (just temporarily) that people who knew who they > were going to vote for a year ago or 6 months ago or 3 months ago or 4 > weeks ago are just extreme party hacks who follow the party line > without thinking for themselves. But can you tell us what are the > questions that any currently undecided voter might have that has not > by this time been answered over and over again by both of these > candidates?
Using Pennsylvania as an example, there are two groups affiliated by party who can be persuaded to vote against their own party, moderate Republicans in the Philadelphia suburbs, and conservative Democrats in western PA. So while the party faithful choose the party's candidate early, these line-crossing voters are targeted for more attention from the campaigns and it takes them longer to make up their minds. I believe a lot of them are waiting to see what their local authority figures - community and religious - are going to endorse before committing themselves. I also think they want to see how the campaigns shape up and see if one candidate pulls ahead. Simplistic as it seems, people like to feel good about backing a winner. Tom W --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Like TV only smarter. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
