August 2006 Weddings
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Who are these undecideds anyway?
I just don't totally understand it. In "real life" I don't know anyone who isn't rabid one way or the other. I'm intrigued by these people who don't have a strong impression one way or the other until they get in the voting booth.
Re: Who are these undecideds anyway?
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Eh. ?I'm not rabid one way or the other. ?I'll most likely vote for McCain because I honestly believe in his ideology, but it's not a very exciting vote for me. ?I sometimes find myself caught in a cycle of listening to Obama and loving his vision for the future, then thinking about the tax implications and the utter failure of government to ever do anything really well, and I bounce between them.
But then the two-party system has never done a very good job of representing me.
Edited to add: The Hopenosis thing cracks me up, because that's pretty much exactly what happens to me. ?I get hope-notized when I listen to Obama speak, then snap out of it.?
Deductive reasoning isn't a conservative or liberal attribute. ~epphd
There are a lot of subsets of the American population that we never think about, and who are never specifically targeted on the issues most important to them...I think this contributes.
For example I have a dear friend who is a refugee from southern Sudan. He is undecided and his logic is as follows: Bush was pretty good on South Sudan, he was close to Garang (the rebel leader c.um president) and supported negotiations with the regime in the north that led to the signing of the comprehensive peace agreement. After the signing of the CPA Bush dedicated a lot of funds to rebuilding the south, although it still remains the most underdeveloped place on earth.
So in that sense, he wants to support McCain, because in his mind he and Bush are essentially the same. Different person, same party and therefore same policies. On the other hand, he believes that Obama has a more nuanced understanding of African issues and might also be good for the region. As someone who struggles to support his family here in the US he also tends to agree more with Obama's fiscal policies.
If either candidate were to come out with a plan or policy statement on southern Sudan, his mind would surely be made up. But neither will, nor, honestly would it make sense for them to. You cannot microtarget (at least not yet) every single group so there will be certain groups who vote on one issue that to the rest of the country appears obscure, who will remain undecided because they don't know where either candidate stands on their issue.
You or I may look at this guy and say: poor, immigrant, urban, African and assume who he is voting for--but we'd be wrong because there is more to his voting calculus than we can know from simple demographics.
**edited because apparently the word c.u.m. only has one meaning and it's a dirty one that the nest won't let you use...
My DH is a perfect example. He is still undecided. His stances on issues fall on both sides. So it becomes which issues are more important.
When the election season started a year ago, immigration was number one and the war number two. He liked the Republican view on immigration but the Democratic view on the war.
Since then energy and the economy have become his top issues although immigration is right up there behind them. Again he likes the Republican view on energy but for economics he doesn't trust either party.
After listening to the debate last night, he still thinks the economy is screwed and neither party is making him happy there. He liked Obama's view on foreign policy but McCain showed more experience which he feels is very important.
Overall he is still undecided and waiting for more debates.
HaHa! I think I have done the same to my DH but on the other side! He is much more liberal than I am now and even volunteers more than I do. It's pretty amazing!
Well, technically I am undecided. I really can not see myself voting for Obama due to fiscal issues, but some of McCain's social stances anger me. I am not sure I can go for a 3rd party, though leaning that way, but they really have no chance.
I've been an undecided in the past. Part of it was my age and that I wasn't passionate about an issue on which to decide between the candidates. Part of it was that both were uninspiring choices (Bush vs Gore).
In this election, to us there are striking contrasts, but I can see those being mroe hidden amongst people who don't get passionate about this. I'm guessing some are libertarian types who buy the rhetoric that Dems are tax and spenders who will protect civil liberties, and Reps will save you money and balance the budget but are also warmongers. If you don't want war, want to keep your money, but don't want government intrusion into private life, then how do you make your pick when that's your superficial (and very misguided) understanding of the candidates?
How is the understanding of the 2 candidates superficial when neither will allow people to keep their money (it is really just a matter of how much more $$ will go to gov't waste-not really to pay down the deficit); neither will be able to get us out of Iraq and/or Afghanistan; and, well, Obama, and to a small degree, McCain will most certainly stay involved/get more involved in my life? I think this statement is a bit oversimplifying and, imo, shows a poor understanding of the difference between rhetoric and real life (or, more directly, what the candidate will actually do).