Undecided Voter Is Becoming the Focus of Both Political Parties

[AmyStrange]

Undecided Voter Is Becoming the Focus of Both Political Parties
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: June 11, 2004

FROM: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/11/politics/campaign/11VOTE.html
ARDMORE, Pa., June 10 — They are more likely to be white than black, female than male, married than single, and live in the suburbs rather than in large cities. They are not frequent churchgoers nor gun enthusiasts. They are clustered in swing states like Ohio, Michigan and here in Pennsylvania. And while they follow the news closely, they are largely indifferent to the back and forth of this year's race for president.

These are what pollsters describe as the rarest of Americans in this election year: the undecided voters. And with aides to President Bush and Senator John Kerry increasingly confident about their ability to turn out their base voters, and thus create an electoral standoff in as many as 15 states, these people have become the object of intense concern by the campaigns as they try to figure out who these voters are and how to reach them.

Only about 5 percent of the voting public is undecided, about one-third of what is typical at this point in the campaign, according to several recent polls. That figure increases to about 15 percent when pollsters include supporters of Mr. Kerry and Mr. Bush who say they might change their minds. In addition to those who are torn between the two major-party candidates, and possibly Ralph Nader, there is a sizable number of Americans who are deciding whether to vote at all.

Here in this Philadelphia suburb, as well as elsewhere across the nation, the undecided voter was the rare exception in hours of interviews that produced vociferous declarations of support for Mr. Bush or Mr. Kerry. "I am very torn," said Marge Pyle, 52, a Republican who works as an administrative assistant at Bryn Mawr College. "I really — I just don't know who I'm going to vote for."

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[Scoopie]

1. Not that this story is overly bad

but I really wish we had more political writers out there besides the hacks of Adam Nagourney and Ron Fournier.

[Skwmom]

2. Clark can reach out to these voters.

As a non-politician, as a guy who stepped forward out of concern for his country, as a guy with heavy security/foreign policy credentials, Clark can reach out to these voters.

"Still, undecided voters are not convinced that Mr. Kerry would be any better than Mr. Bush at ending the conflict. Mr. Bush has a decided advantage over Mr. Kerry on the issues of security and foreign policy that the White House sees as pivotal in this election, according to the polls."

"Sometimes I just don't even want to watch the news," Ms. Pyle said here, as she walked along an outside shopping mall here. She said that advertisements "don't affect me" because she does not believe what the candidates are telling her."

What I hear from many undecided voters are they are fed up with politicians and politics as usual. By putting a non-politician like Clark on the ticket Kerry can play the outsider card for the undecided/swing voters (something he alone is unable to do because he has served for decades in the senate).