There was a voter, undecided,
Though I cannot fathom why;
Perhaps a faulty compass guided
Him, as days and weeks flew by.
Friends would prod, and neighbors chided
“Such an indecisive guy!”
With rapt attention undivided
All would roll their eyes and sigh.
The networks parked where he resided
(Never was he camera-shy)
The interviews that he provided
Kept the ratings climbing high.
Today, as news-mobiles collided
In his yard, I caught his eye:
“If I decide”, the man confided,
“All these cameras say good-bye!”
I was watching the PBS this evening, and they had a panel of undecided voters. This person voted for Obama last time; that person supported McCain; this person is a first time voter; that person is a lifetime Dem who is currently undecided…
Seriously? At this point? Undecided? Other countries have a campaigns that last a couple of months; we have been campaigning since the precambrian. Anyone who doesn’t know yet who they want to vote for… As you can see from my verse, I question your motives.
(Yes, this is an old verse. It’s appropriate.)
Recognizable.
I live in the Netherlands, and am usually a swing vote. We have our next elections next Wednesday, and the campaigns have been going for the best part of, ooh, two and a half week now. This is enough for me to make my pick.
Seeing the year-long election circus across the pond, it strikes me as odd that see that there are indeed still people apparently undecided.
Then again, it kind of looks like the whole point of the long campaigning is not to mobilize voters to vote for you, but to get opposing voters so tired of the whole politics thing they’ll decide not to vote, while keeping your own voters motivated.
If I understand it correctly, voters have to register before being allowed to vote over there, right? That system would imply the same; keep people uninvolved, as much as possible, by setting up unnecessary barriers to their participation.
Too many people vote.
I know this flies in the face of conventional “Get out the vote!” campaigns and people bemoaning our apathetic public… but it’s true. Too many people have no idea what the people on the ballots really believe, or how they stand on issues, or even who they are. And given the level of media saturation on the subject these days, there’s really no excuse for that.
So anyone who’s still “undecided” at this point; please, on election day, stay home and do your laundry. You are clearly not prepared to exercise your franchise responsibly.
Given that the US only have two parties there really shouldn’t be that much fuzz about it. Where I live we have 10-15 parties and only a few weeks of hype before the election.
Many of them just like to say they’re undecided because it lets them posture about being above parties. However, many of them this year can’t decide if they’re going to cross lines and vote against the party they’ve always belonged to. My brother took a long time back in 2008 to vote Democratic, but he finally did. He’s still bitching about the party he’s still registered with…
I am an undecided voter. Trying to wait and see if my state is blue enough that I can vote Stein without increasing Romney’s chances.
The only thing that I can figure out is that these voters either don’t really understand any of the actual issues. Instead they’re making up their minds based on which candidate seems more likeable. Whom do they trust more? Who, as the media says, would they prefer to have a beer with?
Which is a pretty stupid way of picking a candidate. Honesty and likeability are both certainly pluses, but I’d go for a lying SOB who’s going to work for causes I believe in over a great father and husband who believes in doing things I hate, every time.