Undecided Voters “Analyzed”
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Independents, Media, PollsWhy is it when a major news organization writes about swing-voters or undecideds or even “moderates” the story is either written with condescension or with an anthropological reverence, like they’ve uncovered some primitive and mysterious tribe? The latest “report” on undecided voters comes from the AP and is based on a Knowledge Networks poll .
The shocking conclusion? Undecided voters tend to have some conservative views and some liberal ones. They also have a healthy distrust of politicians in general.
Wow. I hope the AP will also reveal to me that Democrats are liberals and Republicans are conservatives. And the Pope is Catholic.
What’s most interesting in the story is that undecided voters are at one point labeled kingmakers and at another point painted as unengaged and disinterested. Just because a voter doesn’t like either political party doesn’t make him or her unengaged – it just means there’s no outlet for their political beliefs. If they were truly unengaged, they wouldn’t be voters at all. They’d be non-voters.
At some point, I hope the media will stop treating voters who don’t fit the easy Republican/Democrat labels as a sideshow and will start giving those voters’ beliefs a more comprehensive look.
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Independents, Media, Polls. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:28 am
Well said.
-dj
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:58 pm
[...] today I criticized simplistic coverage of swing voters. Fortunately, for those interested in a more comprehensive look at crossover [...]
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Hmmm, they have views that don’t fall into either the Democratic or Republican camps…
maybe we should try this weird thing they’re doing in some countries… third parties?
I know, it sounds scary, huh.
July 4th, 2008 at 11:18 am
We are here to drive them all mad. I have a far left friend that says he will lose his mind over me. I have voted Republican, I’m pro nuclear power and think the military can’t be tough enough but I favor amnesty for illegals, listen to NPR and couldn’t give a fat rats patootie about gay marriage. (Misery for all, I say!) He wants to see the world in two camps and I won’t decide what team to play for. Can you be politically bi? Political views are chosen buffet style by MOST people- we just try to find which candidate we are most in agreement with- or vote against the one that gives us the heebies.