Grumbling about the importance of the debates to "undecided" voters, Cliff May at National Review Online had this to say"
"I don?t think we know squat about the dynamics of opinion formation among that segment of the public that has little interest in politics, AKA undecided voters."
I tend to agree with Mr. May on this, and I think it's probably a weakness of the amateur political blogging community as a whole. Anyone who runs a political blog is probably politically savvy and active to one extent or the other. From The Corner to the newest Blogspot Democrat, I can guarantee you that the authors(s) of the blog probably have a better picture, more or less, of the election than the "undecided voter".
I've been kicking this notion around for a bit, and Mr. May's remarks helped me coalesce my thinking. I'm not sure any of "us", i.e. the pundit-bloggers, are capable of fathoming the undecided. We watch the debates and cheer, clap, laugh, point, shout, and throw things at the screen when Bush & Cheney, or Kerry & Edwards say things. We keep score. We also can't imagine anyone not doing the same.
I can sit back in my old government surplus desk chair and sneer at the undecideds, but when the time comes to figure out their logic, I haven't a clue. Does anyone out there? These people are more alien to my way of thinking than, I would think, an Islamic in Saudi Arabia; we do know to some extent what metrics a devotee of the Koran uses.
Originally contrived at 002648 on 11 October, but delayed in posting due to illness.
Posted by Country Pundit at October 12, 2004 11:13 PM