If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice:
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill…

I don’t believe in this “undecided” voter crap. By now, if not long before now, I think most folks know who they’re voting for. When people claim they’re “undecided”, I smirk. Fine. Whatever.

I suspect a lot of these “undecided” voters are simply folks being coy. They want to portray themselves as well-reasoned, deliberate people who take the import of their vote quite seriously. But a well-reasoned person knows that we’ve heard both candidate’s platforms already through their ads, their debates, the press coverage. A well-reasoned person knows there’s not going to be an “October surprise.” And a deliberate person makes up their mind – they don’t waver to the last minute, endlessly second-guessing themselves (and both candidates).

Pretty typically, the majority of both candidates’ efforts at this stage of the election are directed toward these “undecided” voters. Wooing them. Trying to suss out their real concerns. (“By golly, we’ve talked about the economy, homeland security, the war on terrorism, jobs, welfare, immigration, taxes… What the hell do these people want?!”)

I think they like that, these “undecided” voters. It makes them feel special. The candidates scurry to curry their favor. Movie stars and musicians beseech them. The media tells them they’re momentous. People even pimp their pets!

The rest of us? Well, our votes are taken for granted. See, that’s the downside of being a truly well-reasoned, deliberate person: we did our homework, and now we have to do your homework, too.

Yeah, I know I sound pissy about all of this. I am pissy about it, particularly since I’ve noticed that it’s mostly the “undecided” voters complaining about the surge of negativity in both campaigns this past week. (The rest of us tune out the ads. We have no reason to listen to them anymore.)

Well, folks, it’s just going to get worse. Know why? Because you haven’t been listening all this time. The candidates’ records didn’t sway you, and the debates didn’t sway you, and the issues themselves didn’t sway you, so there’s only other way to capture your attention: simplistic but vituperative name-calling.

All because the important stuff was apparently too difficult for you to understand.

Wednesday, October 27th, 2004, 12:13 pm   |   Politics Bite  |  RSS feed Comments and pings are currently closed.