For those of you unfamiliar with polling, an organization can devise a poll to achieve whatever result they want; depends on the questions, who they are polling (more dems than republicans or vice versa), and how many individuals they are polling.

All I can say is that I am going to vote and try to get others out to vote, and then hope that voter fraud does not sway the election one way or another.

It would be terrific to see an election where NO voter fraud occurred. But with what is taking place in Ohio (and other states with ACORN and its subsidiaries), I believe Iraq probably has fairer elections.

The only poll that shows a lead outside the margin of error this time is the CBS/NYT’s poll who clearly is an anomaly. There is no way everyone else has 4-5% margins, and this one poll shows 14%. In late September AOL was polling McCain with a 26% lead over Obama … another anomaly. When you factor in that most of the media is polling 5-10% more Democrats than Republicans, and that 37% of likely voters believe the media is biased in favor of Obama … you are looking at a dead heat.

Here in Nevada, 3 weeks ago they were tied. Two weeks ago Obama had a 7% lead. One week ago McCain had a 5% lead. Now they are tied again.

Polling is what it is … unreliable at best. This is going down to the wire.

Nader has been on the forefront of this idea for more than eight years… I remember him spouting off on it in 2000 before the election debacle. I saw him a couple weeks ago on Real Time with Bill Maher making the same assertion about this election. You know what? I think Nader has done a lot of good for Americans, and that his heart is ultimately in the right place… but the guy is off-base here.

Anyone who thinks that there’s no real differences between the two parties, that there are no substantial differences between McCain and Obama… please, let me know if you think things in this country would have been the same over the last eight years had Gore assumed the Presidency in January 2001. Please.

Obama has conclusively demonstrated that he is just a run-of-the-mill Clinton/Bush clone and will strongly support the establishment and all that represents.

And you can’t see why that, with all its limitations, would be better than an unstable proto-fascist who’ll be replaced in a couple of years by someone a good deal less “proto”?

Then you should vote for Obama.

But despite my desire for lower taxes would the country be better off changing direction (for better or for worse) even if it means compromising on what is important to me?

See, you don’t name any metrics from which to determine that, and don’t particularly have strong feelings about it.

Granted, you’ve given me a bit more insight into how “undecided voters” think, and it’s not as bad as Oliver portrays, but it’s still something that, at this stage of the game, I roll my eyes at. Plus, it does back up the claim from a lot of people that Obama really hit had his figure on the pulse of the electorate when he ran a campaign on “change.” You can run on “change” people remember it, and they might put aside any policy preferences they might have in favor of a theme they find compelling. On the other hand, it shows that specifically appealing to undecided voters is a bad bet: Obama seems to figure that if you get together enough of a compelling popular movement behind him, those dithering will just follow along. Which is probably correct, but works on the pricniple that if you grab the strongly-opinionated nose of the body politic, its undecided ass will follow.

That’s crap. Everyone knows what is important to each of them, as do I. I could selfishly and blindly vote based on what is important to me or, I can weigh what is important to me as against what is best (in my opinion, of course) for the country. For instance, I want the lowest possible taxes, regardless of income or type of taxes as I have no faith in either party’s ability to control their spending. That is important to me and would lean towards a vote for McCain. But despite my desire for lower taxes would the country be better off changing direction (for better or for worse) even if it means compromising on what is important to me? Thus, the analysis is a bit more complicated for some, as it should be.

Heh. Yeah, right.

This might be fair to say before the VPs were selected, but at this point, presumably you have certain personal priorities and policy preferences, and that determines what your vote is going to be. Being undecided at this point only means you’re really not sure what’s important to you and are continuing to dither over that. Or perhaps that you don’t know what each candidate stands for, and you’re waiting to figure it out.

As I said, you’re a classic example of how undecided voters are people that don’t really have strong opinions. In a country where lots of people don’t even vote, that’s not an uncommon phenomenon. My suspicion is that it’s easier for candidates to find non-voters who might be convinced to vote for them than it is to convince the tiny sliver of undecided voters to vote for them. There are simply MORE non-voters, and finding the ones that can be swayed into voting probably pays off more than the people dithering until the end, who are going to be swayed by economic fundamentals and macro-effects of the media and popular sentiment, anyway.

Well, not quite true. He’s not gonna raise your taxes, Heddy. Or mine, or Ollie’s or most likely anyone who comments here.

Not true. Unlike McSame, who wants to add the value of health benefits to income.

On the one hand a new direction would be ideal along with a president, Obama, who has the ability to move people with words. On the other hand, Obama will seek to raise taxes and lacks any relevant experience. I don’t think the experience issue is a deal-breaker, however, as few if any come to the White House with adequate experience to prepare them for the job. Plus, there is Biden, whom I like. If the Democratic ticket was reversed, I would vote for it.

With McCain, I see him a lot like Bob Dole. Honorably served his country both in the military and Senate but is otherwise not all that inspiring. Plus, as much as Palin is fun to watch and his reasoning for picking her is clear, she is dumb as dirt and not ready for prime time which is reflective of his judgment.

I think Farris is right though, that neither candidate is giving people a reason to vote FOR them. This blog is a perfect example. How many posts discuss what Obama will do or what he believes as opposed to being anti-McCain? 1 out of 10, maybe?

While the differences may be clear to the respective Kool-Aid drinkers, for many people the pros and cons of each candidate need to be weighed and that takes time.

In a country where 40%-50% of the electorate doesn’t vote, I think it’s fair to say that there are people who don’t have opinions and believe in things. It’s not so much that these undecided voters really want to vote and can’t make up their minds– it’s that under most circumstances, they probably won’t vote at all. People who vote are people who have strong opinions about things. People who are undecided are people who, under most circumstances, probably wouldn’t vote at all. But they might vote, and might vote for your preferred candidate, if given an extra push.

What annoys me are the people who say they just don’t know who Barak Obama is?

I’m assuming that’s s rhetorical question, because

I’m African-American

so I’m sure you don’t really have any trouble figuring it out. It means “I don’t want to vote for a you-know-what”.

Oooh no. Not even on a bet. At least not without some Imodium.

I don’t jaywalk. I don’t pass yellow lights while driving. I don’t cut anyone off at the subway turnstile. I always make sure to smile.

I know what you mean. I’m a white guy from New England. I’ve been wearing my Obama hat every day since last April. Not one person has said anything negative to me (not even in Vegas), and I smile and wave and get the door for people. As stupid as it sounds, the hat emboldens me to be nicer to folks because I just know someone will equate my behavior to the candidate. If I project a sense of helpfulness and hopefulness, perhaps it will resonate with any undecideds I run across.
“Still not sure who to vote for, but that nice young man with the Obama hat helped me with my groceries.”

I’m African American, so I try to be on my best behavior these days. I don’t jaywalk. I don’t pass yellow lights while driving. I don’t cut anyone off at the subway turnstile. I always make sure to smile. I try not to look to excited about Obama possibly winning. I often wonder if Obama wins, will McCain voters or bitter voters or hardworking voters from West Virginia will start discriminating more just to say either (1) they don’t like just any ole Black person and (2) well, if he could make it, so could you, so work harder (no matter how hard you’re already working).