"...I wrote that most elections are about undecided voters while much of this one was about an undecided candidate". I'm Canadian, which means that I get flooded with just about as much American content day to day as any American. And one thing I have noticed is that the "undecided voter", sometimes called the "swing voter", is about as real as Sasquatch.
My impression is that there are voters who will always vote Democrat, and voters who will always vote Republican, and...well, that's it. If voters don't like the candidate that the party that they always vote nominates, then they stay home and don't vote. Elections in the USA are won by the party that can motivate their base to go to the polls and cast a vote.
I cannot ever remember seeing an interview with one of these elusive swing voters. It could be that the news/opinion coverage always seems to hang out at party rallies, or goes to party strongholds to do interviews.
It's different in Canada. We have more parties, but people generally don't connect their identities to any of them. Issues change, people change, the parties change and leaders and ideas change. So do the ways that people vote.
"...I wrote that most elections are about undecided voters while much of this one was about an undecided candidate". I'm Canadian, which means that I get flooded with just about as much American content day to day as any American. And one thing I have noticed is that the "undecided voter", sometimes called the "swing voter", is about as real as Sasquatch.
My impression is that there are voters who will always vote Democrat, and voters who will always vote Republican, and...well, that's it. If voters don't like the candidate that the party that they always vote nominates, then they stay home and don't vote. Elections in the USA are won by the party that can motivate their base to go to the polls and cast a vote.
I cannot ever remember seeing an interview with one of these elusive swing voters. It could be that the news/opinion coverage always seems to hang out at party rallies, or goes to party strongholds to do interviews.
It's different in Canada. We have more parties, but people generally don't connect their identities to any of them. Issues change, people change, the parties change and leaders and ideas change. So do the ways that people vote.
I just don't see that happening in the USA.