Persuadable Voters

I found Dr. Hillygus' discussion very interesting. I had never really thought about all the factors that influence who people vote for and how a campaign is run. The one thing I still have a question about is how a poll is conducted. When they say a certain percentage of people are going to vote for McCain or Obama, who are these people? Do they do a sample and apply it to the whole country because I am voting but I have never participated in any survey regarding the election so that makes me wonder how accurate the polls actually are.

What I found most interesting about the talk was about the function of the amendments. Dr. Hillygus said that which amendments are chosen to be on the ballot is a strategic decision to increase turnout on election day because they anticipate people being passionate about the wedge issues. This angered me in a way because I can't help thinking back to amendment 48 and that it is on the ballot to get all the people who are passionate about women's issues and abortion to come to the voting booth when they may not normally. I think this is a dangerous strategy because of the horrible reprocutions if it is passed and all just to increase voter turn out.

I was also struck that Dr. Hillygus said that anything can make a difference in who people vote for. She said that whichever name is listed first on the ballot is likely to get more votes simply because they are listed first. The point was that even a rainstorm can effect voter turn out and I was surprised that some people could really be that apathetic about the election. I can't imagine that anyone could be so neutral on the election that they can't decide and just vote for the first name on the ballot. I haven't seen many elections in my lifetime but I think we all have a sense that the passion people have for this election is unprecedented and for some to not care who wins is unimaginable to me.

Dr. Hillygus also surprised me when she said that some academics are wondering why anyone would want to win this election because they would inherit the bad economy and wouldn't be able to turn it around in four years so they would most likely lose re-election. She said some democrats think the best strategy is for Obama to lose the election. I had never thought about that before and I suppose it makes sense but I don't think anyone who is for Obama could ever vote for McCain or visa versa because of this strategy.