Great article. With no due respect to any undecided voters who may be reading this, I've often marveled at just how seemingly stupid, uninformed and irresponsible these people must be - this year more than ever. I think part of the reason candidates start acting so foolish towards the end of the campaign is because they are trying to appeal to these unpredictable and flighty nimrods.

The New Yorker article is brilliant, as always.

Also, you should catch the article about how Sarah Palin was picked. Seems that it had to do with her looks.

I see the 'undecided' vote as mainly an 'I don't give a shit' vote. Like the mother in this article, it's not that she was undecided, per se; she just didn't care. Because she didn't care, she didn't make an effort to understand the issues and determine which candidate fit more correctly into her worldly views and such. It's not that their "on the fence", for them, there is no fence.

So the real question comes down to, "Who are those 'I don't give a shit' voters?" I believe they are those who foolishly feel that politics doesn't affect their life, that no matter who wins nothing will change, or that their vote will not matter in some way. There may be some truth to these statements (probably depending more or less on the election in question), but considering the history of women and minority suffrage in this country, it's a pretty big deal. Pick a fucking side.

“Can I interest you in the chicken?” she [the stewardess] asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

With airline food, there is little difference.

I am curious about the level of undecided voters. Usually polls are targeted at registered voters or "likely" voters.

That should filter out most of the people who just don't give a shit.

I think most of the undecided this year are people who believe all the negative smears about both candidates, and don't care about policy positions (since they're all utter lies, you see).

I'm curious how the undecided will break. I wish they'd tell us more about who the undecided were -- independents who voted for Bush? People who think McCain is too liberal? People who usually vote Democratic, but can't stand Obama because he wasn't nice enough to Hillary?

My gut feel is that the undecideds are mostly Republican-leaning independents who just aren't sure they could vote for McCain/Palin, because, well, they're shit with broken glass in it.

I don't see Democratic-leaning people being undecided during this cycle, barring racial issues & Hillary-based outrage.