I am fascinated by this creature known as the undecided voter, particularly with respect to the 2012 presidential election. Because I really don’t understand how anyone could possibly be on the fence in choosing between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. The media rather hilariously uses the euphemism “low-information voters” to describe this group. But what does this loaded euphemism mean?
Wikipedia tells us the following about such voters: “they vote, but are generally poorly informed about politics. They are less likely to vote, tend to be more moderate than high-information voters,” and “look for candidates whom they find “personally appealing.” They “tend to be swing voters” and “rely on cues about the candidates that are often of limited usefulness, and in the absence of real information make their decision based upon stereotypical beliefs about what traits such as physical attractiveness, race and gender can tell them about a candidate’s suitability for office.” Well, then! I’m guessing this was the crowd that preferred Bush 43 to Kerry because he’s the kind of guy you’d want to have a beer with. A fine way to select a president. Continue reading →
