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The Decisions of the Decisively Undecided
I continue to read here and elsewhere how important tomorrow’s debate is. If Biden looks lost, he’s toast. If Trump sounds rude, he’s toast. And so on. And I understand that point of view. But, well… Well, actually, no; I don’t understand that point of view. Who on earth could possibly be undecided at this point, awaiting tomorrow’s debate to get a read on the candidates? I think Joe Biden could show up naked, go over and sniff Chris Wallace’s hair, and then wander off calling for Toto and it would not affect the outcome of the election. Trump could yell that Biden’s father killed JFK and it wouldn’t matter. I just can’t imagine either candidate being hurt (or helped) by whatever happens in these debates.
Everyone knows who these guys are. Everyone knows which political party supports the rioters, supports the police, supports fracking, and so and so on. Even political ads seem pointless to me. Every time I see an ad the concludes with “I’m Joe Biden, and I forgot this message” I wonder who he’s trying to convince of anything. He’s been in Washington for nearly 50 years; he’s not an unknown quantity. Trump has been president for four years – everyone knows what to expect from him as well. I know that most of us here are political junkies and that most people aren’t as interested in such things. But do you think there are enough “undecideds” out there to make the debates worthwhile to either candidate?
If anyone can watch the past 5-10 years of American history and be not quite sure what they think about things, what on earth would be required to help that person decide? Surely you wouldn’t communicate with that person like you would with the other 99.9% of the population, right?
My view is that the debates don’t matter. But if they do matter, Biden has a very serious problem. Trump is brilliant in front of a camera. I don’t like listening to him speak, but millions find him captivating. His reality TV show got great ratings for years in a very competitive market. He’s comfortable on camera, and quick, and clever, and fearless, and authoritative. He’d be difficult to win an argument with over dinner. On TV, it’s been nearly impossible. He’s a force of nature.
And Joe Biden graduated near the bottom of his class at the University of Delaware. And has deteriorated significantly since then. If he holds his own against Trump, it will be a remarkable triumph. But he could also get annihilated, and stumble off the stage wondering what happened.
But again, I’m not sure it matters, either way.
So what do you think?
Are there a significant number of undecided voters out there (other than Joe Biden)? If so, how can you convince someone so uncertain about everything to be certain about anything?
Can the ‘decided voters’ be convinced to change their minds by a debate? Or an ad?
How important is tomorrow’s debate to each candidate?
Could tomorrow’s debate have an impact on the election?
Maybe, I guess. But I’m unconvinced that you can convince me that the candidates can convince the unconvinced of anything at this point.
Published in General
Good thing he’s got Kamala there to take care of things. (And I can’t help it, but every time I think of her name a 🐫 comes to mind.)
She does have that facial bone structure.
Remember that Joe had two aneurysm bleeds. A neurosurgeon wrote a book titled “Once the air hits your brain.”
You know a few weeks ago I saw this College Cam-type student-on-the-street interview in youtube, and a couple of these young men sounded rational and capable of being knowledgeable, but ultimately vacuous. But one kept saying: But you know I’ll still have to research it, and it depends on what I find when I research. This kid didn’t sound like he even knew the research questions to google up. He probably will type ‘joe biden’ into his browser and read the first three articles that come up, and being satisfied vote accordingly. But he’ll have done his research.
Fortunately, it’s more than likely with this lack of enthusiasm, he won’t vote anyway.
The reason the debates matter is all about turnout. The energized voters will actually vote. The bored or unexcited or disillusioned voters will not vote.
Question: On line 5 did you really mean to type “glandhander”? If so , my compliments on getting around the COC. 😜
( (If not, perhaps a correction is in order?🤔)
Polls showing any Democrat ahead of any Republican are designed to make voters disillusioned enough not to vote for the Republican. I believe Trump voters are too excited over Trump and too scared of the thought of a Democrat in office to allow negative polls to keep them away from the real polls . . .
But what I saw was a bull fight. The bull won.