Undecided Voters 2012 Election

As I sit here drinking a beer and thinking about the 2012 election coming, I became inspired to write something about the so called "undecided voters". What these people should be called is "low information voters."

I had the misfortune of knowing an undecided - low information voter 8 years ago. I want to relay this story not because of the politics involved, I have very political opinions but I don't want to use this space for that. I want to relay this story in an election year to help people understand that these people are not logical.

We will call this former friend 'C'.

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In 2004 my wife and I when over to C's house for dinner. After dinner the discussion moved to politics. C announced that she just decided she was going to vote to reelect Bush.

I thought this was a bit weird. She is socially liberal, supported gay marriage, supported abortion rights, she wasn't wealthy, and she wasn't anti-tax or anti-government.

I said, "Really? Why?"

She said, "The war in Iraq is really screwed up. I think Bush deserves the chance to fix his mistakes."

I stared at her for a few seconds then said, "You think the war in Iraq is screwed up?"

She said, "Yes."

I said, "You think if Bush is reelected, he will take that was a sign that he needs to do something different in Iraq?"

She thought about it and said, "Yeah, I think he will fix it."

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Undecided - Low Information voters are people who feel voting is part of their civic responsibility but don't care enough about news or politics to follow them closely. And most importantly: they are not logical.

Logical people will think "If A and B, then C." Undecided - low information voters think, "I want X. I want Candidate Y to give it to me, even if they say they are against it."

When a politician is reelected, they take it as a sign of voter approval, not disapproval. They take it as a sign that voters want more of the same, not something different.

But that was a concept that C didn't grasp.

Another example is a twitter exchange I had with someone complaining that the health care industry was "too regulated." His solution to rising health care costs included banning DTC advertising of drugs and regulating pharmaceutical company's profit margins.

I asked him, "Isn't that more regulation?"

No reply.

The good news, I suppose, is there are fewer of these people in this election cycle. The bad news is billions of dollars are being spent trying to alter the gut-feelings and fantasies these people have when that money could be put to a more productive and beneficial use