how to explain those who still are undecided?

[leftofthedial]

add your own reasons if you want.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. I can't decide which choice I should select.

[Union Thug]

2. Other- Narcissistic attention whores who interpret their indecision as a sign of their superiority

over others.

[Union Thug]

3. dupe

[vanderBeth]

4. ?

[rzemanfl]

5. So indecisive that if they can decide what to wear on election

day they will get to the corner and won't be able to decide which way to turn. If they somehow get to the polls they won't be able to decide where to park. If they somehow decide that they will get inside and decide they need to call a friend on their cell phone to tell them how to vote, but they won't be able to decide who to call. They will start to cry and some kind person will help them get home.

[JJ]

6. other

Absolutely clueless, and waiting to see who's winning so they can vote with the winner.

[-..__...]

7. If this question is due to polling results...

I think the answer is that "undecided" = none of your fucking business.

[leftofthedial]

9. Good insight there.

It usually is the only alternative to naming your choice.

[targetpractice]

8. Chronic indecisiveness...

They don't want to make the wrong decision, want to vote for who they think will win, and probably have difficulty in making many decisions in their lives.

[rucky]

10. Other: Too much conflicting information.

they're already skeptical, and don't know who and which sources to trust.

[leftofthedial]

12. Sadly, with absurdly lacking campaign finance and ethics regulation

and a media that wants a "horse race" and will lie to our faces to get it,


in the day of mass media, lies work, at least to muddy the waters, if not to convince the gullible

[slackmaster]

11. I think some of them are actually thoughtful, conscientious voters

People who want to be sure they are doing the right thing for themselves and their country.

And some people who claim to be undecided actually want to keep their choices secret, which is their right. I myself have told exit pollsters to pound sand a few times.

[leftofthedial]

13. I'd like to believe that, but this time, this election, this world, this country right now,

No one who is "thoughtful" or "conscientious" could possibly be undecided.

[slackmaster]

14. I think you have a lack of imagination

I know a lot of people who are voting for one Presidential candidate or the other, but have deep reservations about their choices.

[leftofthedial]

20. not in the numbers that polls still say are "undecided"

Of the myriad problems I have, lack of imagination isn't one.

I have deep reservations about Obama. He is a centrist, a corporatist and a free-market believer. All those characteristics are dead wrong in my estimation. His health care plan is nonsensical. His apparent commitment to "working with" republicans is wrong-headed; they have shown clearly over the last thirty years just how fultile a notion that is.

But four more years of reaganomics at home and the bush doctrine at home and abroad and this country is finished. Period. That's not imagination. That's obvious.

There are zealots at either end of the spectrum. But they are not likely to be "undecided." Their choice would be more likely a resounding "neither."

I agree with some here who have said that "undecided" may be the best option for those who really want to say "none of your business." But personally, I believe many of those fit into my first answer.

[Aloha Spirit]

17. One of my friends is. She's got a graduate degree in politics from Harvard, and is (D) leaning.

She is also extremely skeptical and slightly contrarian, and would vote for Obama if he had a few more years in the Senate.
She also is skeptical of McCain's new personality and Palin's media consensus personality and thinks that they would govern much differently than they're campaigning.
Living in a blue state, she doesn't feel much pressure to vote for Obama, understands he will probably win, but will almost definitely vote for Obama.
The thing is, if she were to decide now to vote for Obama, she would have to live with 48 hours of her brain feeding her counter-arguments to that choice.
If she were to choose McCain today, she would have to survive 48 hours of her brain feeding her counter-arguments.
She, I think, just doesn't want to agonize over a choice that she's not comfortable making.
She wants to make that decision on Tuesday to minimize the agony.

[leftofthedial]

22. paralysis through analysis.

I don't see how your description constitutes minimizing the agony. Seems to me she is prolonging it--maybe even enjoying it.

How anyone seemingly that smart could harbor for more than a millisecond the barest inkling that mcsame is even a viable consideration boggles the mind. I guess Harvard isn't what it used to be. Maybe it never was. They gave George W Bush an MBA, didn't they?

[Aloha Spirit]

30. Yeah, it's pitiful. I think it's partly because her husband, WASPy, wears red-tinted glasses.

Edit: It's hard to admit when the people you love are dead-wrong :nopity:

[rucky]

19. You're probably right, but I assume the best intentiions when i approach them.

I have no idea if my approach is working or not, but then again, if there was one approach that worked, there wouldn't be any undecideds.

[GoneOffShore]

25. At this point in the race?

My opinion of "undecideds" was neatly summarized by David Sedaris in a recent issue of the New Yorker:

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2008/10/27/081027sh_shouts_sedaris

"Then you’ll see this man or woman— someone, I always think, who looks very happy to be on TV. “Well, Charlie,” they say, “I’ve gone back and forth on the issues and whatnot, but I just can’t seem to make up my mind!” Some insist that there’s very little difference between candidate A and candidate B. Others claim that they’re with A on defense and health care but are leaning toward B when it comes to the economy."

<snip>

"To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.
I mean, really, what’s to be confused about?"

[stuntcat]

15. stupid, because..

because they have no idea what power the government has. They have no idea of the things that need to be changed right away for our society to move forward without just eating itself.

I know this is extreme but I'm really ashamed that some people's votes have the same power as mine.

[NightWatcher]

16. Other: not undecided but too ashamed to say that race is the deciding factor

[krawhitham]

18. Just a theory

Most undecided are not undecided, they will just not admit to pollsters they are voting for a black man

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

21. Ding! Ding! Ding! What krawhitham said.

[leftofthedial]

24. or that they are too racist to vote for a black man

even when he is obviously the better candidate

[vaberella]

23. I went "other": They just won't vote.

They probably were never voters and won't vote now. I know several people who just HATE the electoral college and are anti the voting system. Then there are others who just won't vote because of two-party and hate the other party choices that won't win. Then there are those who just won't vote because they never voted. So there's a lot of just former non-voters remaining non-voters.

[Essene]

26. a variation of "racist." these are mostly moderate white women who...

... are too busy and generally apathetic to really get the facts on each candidate.

They are swayed by the fear from Mccain's side and generally scared of Obama based on the subtle character attacks.

Some of it is race, but it's not just that. The socialism nonsense. The terrorism nonsense. The muslim nonsense. All of it gets tied together, and i suspect most of these people just are uncomfortable voting for for a Democrat.

I imagine some people who come from conservative religious backgrounds but are surrounded by working class whites who are for Obama. They are torn. I imagine some people who are in conservative communities but know Obama is better. They are torn.

The thing that is shared by them all is misinformation... and most wont vote.

Some of those who do vote will break Mccain based on their feelings about character.

Some of those who do vote will break Obama because they know the character stuff is mostly bogus.

Id wager that the undecideds mostly break even.

[Mz Pip]

27. Low information voters

who don't really pay attention to the comapaigns or the issues. These people are probably pretty apolitical. I doubt many of them will bother to stand in line for hours and hours to cast a vote based on some last minute decision.

They don't care that much.

[dajoki]

28. I'm sorry, but...

if someone is TRULY undecided and not "hiding" their choice, I believe that they should just stay home and not vote. I mean if you really have that much trouble making a decision, especially when there are such stark contrasts, you have no business going into the voting booth and closing your eyes and pointing.

[baldguy]

29. TDS explained it best

http://crooksandliars.com/silentpatriot/daily-show-undecided-voters-aka-stup

[GoneOffShore]

32. That's the one!!

With the largest percentage being:

"You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xtW1-Sq6Sc

[Two Americas]

31. other

Half of the voters have been voting Republican. There will always be a few in transition as things change, and they are changing. We should say "in transition" rather than "undecided." Obviously, with the growing Democratic majority, that means that there are people who formerly voted Republican who are now "in transition." That is a good thing. That "undecided" group is not static - it is a different group of people than it was 6 months ago or 4 years ago, and is moving deeper and deeper into "red" territory. Let's celebrate that.

I can understand that people who have voted Republican for years might struggle with the decision to switch to voting Democratic. We do want them to switch, don't we? The more time and thought they give to the switch, the more solidly Democratic they may be when they do make the switch. How about we give them a lot of room to do that and stop ridiculing them?

[Darian]

33. Stupid.

Most of them won't even show up on Tuesday.

[Mike 03]

34. I voted "Stupid," but I also believe a lot of people feel a sense of utter

hopelessness. That is the significance of Barack Obama, who asks us to dare to believe again that we can move things in the right direction.

[TheFarseer]

35. They want to vote for change

but they're scared. They don't want their taxes raised or their kids blown up like Republicans say is going to happen if they vote Obama. These are the dumbass people that think Al Queda *might* attack the Walmart in Hastings, Nebraska and make $20K per year and have no fu*king idea how taxes work. In other words, people inclined to vote Repug eventhough they know that's never helped them much in the past.