Undecideds: Fear and Loathing
When I was doing campaigns and it got to be mid-October, I got to where I hated undecided voters.
I’d sit behind the two-way mirrors in focus groups and almost shout: “What’s wrong with you people, and why can’t you make up your minds? What else do you need to know?”
I have the same reaction now when I see or read interviews with undecideds. And they always say the same things:
“I just wish they would stop attacking each other and talk about the issues.”
“I just haven’t heard any specifics yet.”
Give me a break. If they really wanted to, they could find an ocean so full of specifics they would drown. Watch a debate and your mind hurts from all the facts and figures and proposals. Every day, the media feeds us more crashingly dull and unreadable stories about “Where the Candidates Stand.” By now, the candidates are so tired of talking specifics they resort to a kind of shorthand code just so they can jam in everything.
Here is the ugly truth about undecided voters:
- A lot of them won’t even vote. They just aren’t that interested.
- The ones who do vote will be influenced by some small piece of information – usually negative – that they pick up.
Believe me, none of them will do what they say they’ll do: Read up on where the candidates stand on the issues and then make up their minds. If they cared about where the candidates stood, they would know by now.
This year, the tie-breakers for the undecided will be (with apologies to the late Hunter S. Thompson) Fear and Loathing:
Fear of economic disaster, which will drive them to Obama.
Loathing for someone different (color, name, associations), which will drive them to McCain.
McCain and Palin have stoked the Loathing, although it looks like McCain realizes he has created a Frankenstein’s monster that can hurt him even worse than the Loathing hurts Obama.
The frenzied, doomsday 24/7 news coverage of the “Greatest Economic Crisis Since the Great Depression” probably will cause Fear to beat Loathing – and Obama to beat McCain.
Some of the undecideds may even get motivated to get out and vote.
Click Here to discuss and comment on this and other articles.
Undecideds: Fear and Loathing
When I was doing campaigns and it got to be mid-October, I got to where I hated undecided voters.
I’d sit behind the two-way mirrors in focus groups and almost shout: “What’s wrong with you people, and why can’t you make up your minds? What else do you need to know?”
I have the same reaction now when I see or read interviews with undecideds. And they always say the same things:
“I just wish they would stop attacking each other and talk about the issues.”
“I just haven’t heard any specifics yet.”
Give me a break. If they really wanted to, they could find an ocean so full of specifics they would drown. Watch a debate and your mind hurts from all the facts and figures and proposals. Every day, the media feeds us more crashingly dull and unreadable stories about “Where the Candidates Stand.” By now, the candidates are so tired of talking specifics they resort to a kind of shorthand code just so they can jam in everything.
Here is the ugly truth about undecided voters:
- A lot of them won’t even vote. They just aren’t that interested.
- The ones who do vote will be influenced by some small piece of information – usually negative – that they pick up.
Believe me, none of them will do what they say they’ll do: Read up on where the candidates stand on the issues and then make up their minds. If they cared about where the candidates stood, they would know by now.
This year, the tie-breakers for the undecided will be (with apologies to the late Hunter S. Thompson) Fear and Loathing:
Fear of economic disaster, which will drive them to Obama.
Loathing for someone different (color, name, associations), which will drive them to McCain.
McCain and Palin have stoked the Loathing, although it looks like McCain realizes he has created a Frankenstein’s monster that can hurt him even worse than the Loathing hurts Obama.
The frenzied, doomsday 24/7 news coverage of the “Greatest Economic Crisis Since the Great Depression” probably will cause Fear to beat Loathing – and Obama to beat McCain.
Some of the undecideds may even get motivated to get out and vote.
Click Here to discuss and comment on this and other articles.