Undecided Voter or Uninformed Citizen?

As the 2008 Presidential election nears, the media has given us a large dose of polling data that indicates that Senator Obama is likely to win due to the large influx of new registered voters and a sizeable shift in the undecided category. While I do generally agree that this is the case, few seem to be asking deeper questions about what these groups really believe or know about either Senator Obama or Senator McCain. NBC political reporter Chris Mathews has frequently utilized the term “low information” voter particularly in regards to those attending McCain/Palin rallies but is this more indicative of Republicans than those about to vote Democrat?

Recent headlines have reported that organizations such as ACORN have registered thousands of people to vote and have even taken them to early voting locations to cast their ballots. While the premise of “getting out the vote” sounds good in theory, there are valid concerns that there may be more to this than the left wants us to believe.

Despite the increasing reports of multiple registrations and fictitious voters, the more important question should be where these groups are focusing their efforts. Most of the new voters are in two key demographics…college students and poverty stricken communities. College students typically have a high trend to vote more progressive and therefore liberal and low/no income voters are historically more likely to support a ticket that promises benefits. We rarely if ever see these same organizations fighting for college votes on conservative or Christian university campuses or setting up shop in the suburbs at a soccer match. This in part is due to the fact that they know their audience and part due to their partisan directives. The homeless have also been a source for new votes here in Ohio and a Federal circuit court even ruled that a park bench must be accepted as a valid address for voter registration. These groups are without a doubt just not as informed about political issues as many of the voters are on the more left and right end of the spectrum. College students have had little time to figure out their world view in light of limited life experience and many in poverty fall prey to the class warfare tactics of the left due to their circumstances. I don’t mean to imply in any way that such demographics shouldn’t be voting but rather am simply pointing out who it is that liberal organizations and the Democrats are relying on to win.

Another recent study indicated that only about 15% of the general population knew who Nancy Pelosi was and that seems to be very telling that very few actually read, watch or listen to any news outlets. This is scary considering that Pelosi is the Speaker of the House and third in succession to the Presidency.

Focus groups always seem to have people who claim they have not made up their mind, yet during debates and roundtable discussions, they inevitably conclude they will likely vote for the candidate who made them feel better. Knowing that the two mainstream parties are vastly different on most issues, how could anyone who claims to be informed and knows their own convictions, be torn about who they are voting for?
I encourage all to vote but only if they are engaged in the debate and have a reasonable understanding of various issues, ideologies and where the candidates stand on each. After all, how can anyone be informed if they don’t first understand what they believe and more importantly why they believe it.