There Are No Undecideds Left

Everybody Already Knows Who They Want

We all have heard it a million times already. Trump is trying to appeal to undecided voters. Harris is trying to appeal to undecided voters. Undecided voters in Pennsylvania may make the difference. Undecideds represent the margin of error in all the swing states. Yadda Yadda Yadda.

Guess what though. There are no undecided voters. They don’t need more information; unless they’ve been in a coma the past two years or living under a rock disconnected from any form of media, everybody already has an idea who they are voting for. They don’t need more time either; the fact that the election is a month away only means that they don’t have to SAY who they are voting for for another month.

So who REALLY are those still saying they are undecided then? Well…

• Most are people voting against their identity, or usual political preference and don’t want to admit it, particularly out in the open. I saw MSNBC do an interview of white, male, union workers asking them (in the factory where they work no less) who they were going to vote for and the responses were all the same, “I don’t know, I have to do my research, I’m not ready to make my decision.” It’s all bullshit. Either they didn’t want the other people in the room to know how they would be voting, or they didn’t want someone with a microphone and camera broadcasting it to the world and every other person they know to find out who they were going to be voting for. Can you imagine how that guy would be treated if he voted for an anti-union candidate while representing unions on the job? Or voting for a Democratic candidate when all of his drinking buddies are die hard Republicans? Yeah, I wouldn’t admit it under those circumstances either.

• Most are people who generally vote for a party philosophically, but are having very real apprehensions about the party based on who is running it. Republicans have a bigger problem with this right now than Democrats; it’s why the average polling of independents has a GOP lean at the moment. They really are Republicans but also really dislike Trump and where he is taking the party. There was a lot of this too when Biden was the Democratic candidate, but since Harris became the nominee they’ve largely fallen into line. Still, there are some that dislike her from her more liberal stances that they remember from when she ran in 2019. In more cases than not, these types of voters all tend to hold their nose and come home.

• Some, are just people desperate for attention who understand that if they say they are undecided, people will take their opinions more seriously. Listening to some focus group results and recordings of interviews by journalists, of people claiming to be undecided, it’s clear to me many of these people aren’t undecided and never were, they were just people who wanted to be on TV or in a focus group. You can tell how they talk about what issues are important, or what they think about various things, and more importantly the narratives in how they say it. You can even tell by the words they use based on how they phrase issues and their communication silos they inhabit.

But, there has to be SOME undecided voters out there right? I mean, not everyone made up their mind. ON THE CONTRARY! They haven’t made up their mind because there is still time left. Its the procrastinating laziness of these voters that TRULY defines them. They are like the students who wait until 10 minutes before class to complete the term paper—everything is decided at the last second. If they election were tomorrow, they’d pick and choose the exact same way they would a month from now. So on that note…

1. First off, they are not moderates. If you’re purple, you know what issues are important to you, know where they candidates stand on those issues, and work your best to reconcile the “he’s right here and wrong there, while she’s right here and wrong there” nature of it. These aren’t undecided voters. They genuinely know who they are voting for and have all along. No, those that claim to be moderates and undecided just have time before they have to pull the lever and don’t want to admit to themselves or others who it is.

2. Second, they aren’t going to listen to appeals from parties either. They are entirely intellectual slackers, and really don’t want to be put ont he spot. If they get called by a pollster, they’re much more likely to hang up than say “I don’t know.” And even if they do stay on the line, you’re more likely to get political incoherence more than anything insightful.

3. Lastly, if you are truely undecided at this point, you aren’t smart. You should know, and if you don’t, you’re kind of chosing to be irrational for the sake of it. That’s kind of obvious. But pollsters trying to rationalize how they will go either way is pointless too, because it’s very likely the way they end up going in the end is illogical. In one of the strangest intellectual exercises I see daily, its neurotic, erudite statisticians and analysts trying to discern what some indifferent and unconcerned person in Bucks County, PA thinks about an area they have absolutely zero interest in. It’s like asking a non gambler whether they like betting on red or black better.

In most cases of REAL undecided voters, the question is not whether they vote Republican or Democrat, it’s whether they show up to vote at all. Ambivalent and indifferent voters often don’t get off their couches on election day. Sure, they may be indifferent about Trump/Harris, but there are a slew of downballot races and initiatives they maybe do care about. Getting these people off their butts and into election booths is a main part of the Get Out the Vote operations of both parties. It’s why they spend so much time setting up Churches to Polls, Vote Drivers, and absentee balloting operations. Trump’s 2016 campaign may have been the most effective rural GOTV operation ever, and a source of his political strength in very red rural areas; those voters in previous years tended to not vote at all and in elections since 2016 without him on the ballot, HAVEN’T shown up for anyone else on the GOP side. If people are politically indifferent, they will stay home; that isn’t being an undecided, that’s actually intentional apathy. This is probably the best description of those who still call themselves undecided— politically apathetic.

Then there are those that are just tired of the whole thing, the constant handwringing, being asked about these things, the wall to wall news coverage, the “new poll”-itis that happens every day now, the fact that every story on the news now is about an election a month away, as opposed to other important things happening in the world, oh like Israel invading another country over the weekend and killing a major Hezbollah figure. They’re tired and who can blame them? Bill Maher on his show last week put it succinctly here.

But let’s put to bed the fallacy that anybody out there doesn’t have an opinion and is unsure how they are going to vote. Donald Trump has been around now as a candidate for 9 years; whether you want to admit it or not, you have an opinion on him and how he would do as President. He’s the epitome of the elephant in the room. Some of you may be OK with him. Some of you may not. But seriously, nobody doesn’t know about him or how he governs. You may have reservations about Harris, but if that’s holding you back you probably weren’t ever going to really vote for her or Biden or the Democrats anyway. How you think about Trump was always going to be the definining issue of this election, and don’t tell me you don’t know what you think about him, because everyone would recognize that as stupidity or bullshit.

It’s time to make up your mind. Cut the B.S.. You know. Admit it.

PurpleAmerica’s Recommended Stories

What prompted me to write this were two items I came across this last week. The first was this Ron Brownstein article discussing the same topic, and was from where I drew much of the inspiration for this piece.

The other was this video from MSNBC talking to undecided union voters. I could not think of a more worthless interview than interviewing union workers about politics WHERE THEY WORK. People aren’t going to ask honestly there; it would serve no purpose. I’m convinced much of when people poll or do focus groups, this level of falsity persists and skews pollster perception of them.

PurpleAmerica’s Cultural Corner

When most people think of Leonard Cohen, they think of Hallelujah. It’s a good song but pretty misunderstood. Malcolm Gladwell has a great podcast diving into it here. However, that’s not close to my favorite Cohen song. My favorite has always been “Everybody Knows,” which I first heard in the movie “Pump up the Volume.” It’s a fantastic song, but more importantly, it opened my mind up to listening to more of that low baritone voice that I love so much.

PurpleAmerica’s Obscure Fact of the Day

I don’t know. I have to do my research on obscure facts. I haven’t decided which obscure fact I want to post. I’ve had plenty of time to think about which obscure fact I want to post, but…uh…. none of them quite appeal to me. I need to look into it more and consider the positions of each of these facts a little more closely before I decide.

PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject

Any opportunity to play one of my favorite comedic bits I’m going to. Here’s Richard Jeni talking about politics. When it comes to undecideds, wait for the third part.

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Footnotes and Fun Stuff