Carter Wrenn posted on September 04, 2012 15:08
In case you missed it there’re two new polls this week but nothing’s changed. Republicans are still voting rocklike for Romney, Democrats are still rocklike for Obama, and if you want a portrait of a swing voter she’s a mother with young children living in the suburbs in a nice (but not too nice) home.
She’s not from the South, probably moved here because of a job, but, now, the earth has shifted beneath her feet – so she’s got very definite ideas about her goals this election: She wants the recession over.
She figures Obama’s proved he can’t get the job done but she’s not certain Mitt Romney can either so it looks like when she walks into the voting booth on Election Day she may have to gamble and as a female with children that’s the last thing she wants to do.
Her credit cards were valued possessions not long ago but now she abhors debt, not only her own but government debt. However, at the same time, she’s against cuts in Medicare and Social Security and supports cheaper student loans and government mortgage subsidies to families about to lose their homes.
She’s pro-choice to her fingertips yet at the same time she’s worried about the decline in religious values. Unlike almost everyone around her – who’s either a Republican or Democrat voting their party line this fall – she’s an Independent with no loyalty at all to either party.
Wooing and winning her is the fixation of both conventions. She’s why Ann Romney gave the first speech in Tampa and why Michelle Obama’s leading off the Democratic Convention and it’s a safe bet before the Democrats pack up their tent and leave Charlotte she’s going to get courted a lot more. But she’s nobody’s fool: She hasn’t been swayed by gossip about tax returns and doesn’t give a toot about Barack Obama’s birth certificate – she just wants the hard times behind her and she means to pick the suitor who’ll get the job done.