akirlu | Dissecting the Undecideds (Reply)

Hullaballoo has extensive excerpts from a TNR article on Christopher Hayes's experience meeting swing voters in Wisconsin during the last seven weeks before the election. It's fascinating reading.

Undecided voters aren't as rational as you think. Members of the political class may disparage undecided voters, but we at least tend to impute to them a basic rationality. We're giving them too much credit. I met voters who told me they were voting for Bush, but who named their most important issue as the environment. One man told me he voted for Bush in 2000 because he thought that with Cheney, an oilman, on the ticket, the administration would finally be able to make us independent from foreign oil. A colleague spoke to a voter who had been a big Howard Dean fan, but had switched to supporting Bush after Dean lost the nomination. After half an hour in the man's house, she still couldn't make sense of his decision.

After having read the rest of the excerpts, I think I can make sense of it, actually. That guy was voting pure gut. He liked Dean for some combination of spunk, pugnacity, heart, charm, and courage. Dean wore his salable qualities on his sleeve. Dean had gut appeal. Bush, though I cannot comprehend it, has gut appeal. Kerry was never a gut appeal candidate.

Undecided voters do care about politics; they just don't enjoy politics...The mere fact that you're reading this article right now suggests that you not only think politics is important, but you actually like it. You read the paper and listen to political radio and talk about politics at parties. In other words, you view politics the way a lot of people view cooking or sports or opera: as a hobby. Most undecided voters, by contrast, seem to view politics the way I view laundry. While I understand that to be a functioning member of society I have to do my laundry, and I always eventually get it done, I'll never do it before every last piece of clean clothing is dirty, as I find the entire business to be a chore. A significant number of undecided voters, I think, view politics in exactly this way: as a chore, a duty, something that must be done but is altogether unpleasant, and therefore something best put off for as long as possible.

I'm not sure I like politics exactly. But I get what he means. On the other hand, this leads me to two things that may be pry points for getting undecideds into the fold. One, start a Flylady system for political engagement. Seriously, if politics is like doing laundry (or dishes), then the thing to do is break the oversize chore down into manageable bits and sugar-coat them with moral support. Which leads me to the other thing: keep building the MeetUps and similar organizations. That's another moral support network, but it's also a potential source for building positive enjoyment and associating it with politics. Make politics fun. Make it a social high point. Something people look forward to. I think Drinking Liberally meets could be particularly good for this.

Anyroad, as always I persist in thinking that the best way to attack a problem is to understand it, first.