PGage <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 4:32 AM, Doug Fields <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Perhaps we're devolving into a semantics argument, but aren't you just >> confusing "undecided" and "uninformed"? Why couldn't a bloc of people be >> very up-to-date on the current state of the race and have formed mixed >> opinions on different platform points between the two campaigns, and haven't >> yet made up their minds over which candidate to back? >> >> 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? > > What I hear when I ask this question is something like "I still don't > know how they are going to fix the financial crisis (or "bring peace > to the Middle East", or "guarantee universal health care without > spending any more money"). But these are not really requests for the > candidates to give more specific answers to real political or policy > questions - they are fantasies that somehow there are easy, quick or > painless solutions to extremely difficulty problems. > > It does seem to me that anyone who does not know by now where > Obama/McCain stand on the health care, or foreign policy questions, or > the financial crisis, has just been incredibly inattentive (well, with > the possible exception of McCain's position on the financial crisis, > since it seems to be changing day by day).
Well, I was trying to speak in hypotheticals, asking "Why can't somebody have been very attentive to the campaign up to this point, yet not be satisfied enough with the candidates' stances on certain big-ticket issues to choose one over the other, and are just waiting for something else to happen before they walk into a voting booth?" I don't think it's a matter of "what question hasn't been answered?" but rather that the answers they've heard aren't satisfactory, and as you point out, it's doubtful that any better answers are coming anytime soon. But to speak from personal experience, I have a large circle of extremely politically-active friends, from both rabid ends of the liberal/conservative spectrum. Most of us are supporting the candidate from our usual party, but we do have a few "undecideds" in the mix. I know a woman who's almost violently anti-abortion, yet at the same time wants us out of Iraq/Afghanistan due to close relatives serving in the military. She'd be historically considered moderate-Republican, but votes against the party occasionally. I think wants to vote Republican, but is being turned off by McCain's choice of VP, and his refusal to give any satisfactory explanation of what his plans are for resolving the foreign wars, so she's waiting to see what happens and is currently, honestly, declaring herself undecided. Is she not allowed to do that? I should look at her condescendingly, just because she refuses to declare for either McCain or Obama, and satisfy those of us who want to categorize everybody as eiher "Us" or "Them"? Doug Fields Tampa, FL --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
