Many months have passed since Mitt Romney became the presumptive Republican Party nominee for president of the United States. Far before that, President Barack Obama and his surrogates were at work defining Romney and the choice that voters will face on Election Day. Yet polls consistently find between five and ten percent of the electorate to be undecided between Romney, the challenger and Obama, the incumbent.
The pundits and political consultants take this group of procrastinators across the country seriously. The group may very well be statistically significant, but the persuadable group of voters in swing states is very small. The campaigns are offered admonitions and advice on what attracts or repels these crucial swing voters.
What could possibly be barring these voters from making a choice?
An image from SNL’s skit about low information voters.
A better question may be to ask: what will influence these voters’ decisions over the next several weeks? The choice in this election is as clear as it has been in over a generation. Many of these voters are either unaware of the disparate policy positions that the candidates hold or are wholly unconcerned with policy.
The comic variety show, Saturday Night Live, recently aired a mock campaign ad featuring undecided voters asking the candidates serious questions in order to help them decide. The questions were not serious at all. One character asked if women could vote. Another character wondered about the length of presidential terms. The questions were not what any serious voter would be asking the candidates. The advertisement parody ends with the disclaimer “Low Information Voters of America is responsible for the content of this advertising.”
1 Comment
Dominic–
Have you ever considered that perhaps YOUR expectations and views on what diminishes the office of the presidency are…well…only YOURS? You act as if there is a standard that you get to define. I find it hard to believe that a President who identifies with popular culture and uses it to his advantage is somehow “diminishing” the office of the presidency. On the flip side, many would argue that a President isolated from mainstream society and unable to identify to it is actually more demeaning. Obama is perhaps more recognizable and relatable to America’s mainstream because well…he is mainstream. It is not his fault that conservatives continue to elect men of family wealth who grew up like 0.01% of the population. It is your fault.
Its more classic complaints from the hyper-conservatives…where everything from higher education to music and movies are bias against them. Yes the party of equal lots in life and personal responsibility that shamelessly wants everyone to create a separate playing field for them. I find it sad in a way that conservatives have ultimately given up hope of ever evolving their ideology to be more in line with American mainstream society and find it frankly sad that all they will do from here to (eternity?) will be to complain and cry about it.
The truth you will have to face as a conservative if you want any glimmer of hope of ever winning office…is that you cannot simply refuse to evolve. Because like the dinosaurs, you will go extinct. (Oh and first just accept evolution is real).