Kerry's Effort to Woo the Undecideds has swelled their ranks

[sampsonblk]

According to Zogby, "The poll indicated that Kerry’s support fell as the number of undecided voters rose, suggesting that by some of the Senators supporters may have lost confidence in him and joined the ranks of the undecided."

Back to the base!

http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=858

*Note: the article was about investors, but still makes a good point.

[JI7]

1. it's because of the attacks from Republicans, but good news is they didn't

go to bush. Kerry will start running ads again after the month off in august. hopefully he will get them back again.

[sampsonblk]

2. I hope this is a wake-up call

I have heard all summer that Dems will never vote for Bush, so Kerry should focus on the undecideds. That kind of thinking (in my opinion) is a recipe for disaster.

[JI7]

3. huh ? the undecideds should be focused on, if dems aren't voting for Kerry

then they probably aren't going to vote for him at all such as zell miller.

the undecideds DID go to Kerry. but august was a month where kerry was limited in how much he could spend while the republicans were free to raise and spend as much as they wanted to. and the republicans were also having their convention then so much of the focus was on them. they spend a lot of money attacking kerry which had some influence on the undecideds. but kerry can try to win them back.

i don't understand some of the thinking on here. people seem to think that there are no ups and downs during a campaign. that a movement in polls means disaster and the end of a campaign. the wakeup call should go to the reactionary types who think because kerry may have lost some support it's a sign of disaster and he should give up trying to court them.

[Julien Sorel]

4. It's a thinly disguised demand

that Kerry move to the left.

It has less to do with winning or losing the election than it does with the person's personal political views.

[sampsonblk]

6. Sounds like your issues are personal - I don't DO personal here

I am suggesting that Kerry not take his base for granted, hoping to win based on some other group.

That has nothing to do with anyone's personal political views.

[JI7]

8. he isn't hoping to win just on any group and he isn't taking anything for

granted. he has a liberal record. he is prochoice, supports alternative sources for energy and many other ideas to make the environment cleaner and safer, he supports changing to tax code to move the burden from middle class onto the wealthy, he supports stem cell research, abortion rights, he supports affirmative action, separation of church and state, he supports doing something about global aids, the genocide in sudan. and many other issues where he not only disagrees with bush on but has a record to back up his commitment to the issues.

if those who claim to be left leaning think they are taken for granted even with those and many other important issues it's not worth going after them any more.they only want attention. they obviously don't think those issues are important enough to vote for kerry over bush so they are not part of the base. the base is already with him. those who aren't are not part of the base such as zell miller.

as for the undecided swing voters , they don't have much demand. they are not very political but they are turned off by extremists on both sides. that's why kerry appeals to them by showing he is mainstream and bush is extremist. but they are just as likely to vote for kerry as they are for bush and they easily move back and forth and they WILL vote for sure. that's why it's important to get their votes. because if kerry doesn't get their vote they will vote for bush for sure.

for now kerry is lucky because they mostly seem to have a negative feeling about bush but they have questions and doubts about kerry. mostly because of the attacks against him. but the fact they haven't moved totally to bush's side and are undecided instead means they are still considering kerry. and that's why it's worth it to get their votes rather than those who claim to be liberal yet don't feel those issues i mention are important enough to vote for one candidate over the other.

[sampsonblk]

10. I get where you are coming from

I can't argue with one thing you said. I just don't think it works. For one thing, Bush has the ultimate card to play: fear. He can use it any time he wants.

Maybe we don't see swing voters the same way. They seem kinda ridiculous to me. How can anyone not know who to choose in this election? That just seems bizarre to me at this late stage. If I am right, and they are just complacent people, then (just my opinion) Kerry would be better off converting them to ABB than to try to get their votes. Converting them to anti-Bush would be a lot easier than making them pro-Kerry in 2 months.

So I say focus on the base and pound Bush. Anyway, its just my opinion. We shall see what happens. Although I think Kerry is making the change as we speak.

[JI7]

11. because they aren't very much into politics and don't have strong feelings

but they vote on who they think will make the country better including their financial situation which is why he talks economic issues.

and the undecideds include conservatives who disagree with kerry on social issues but agree with him on economic issues. they would consider ignoring the differences on issues like abortion and vote for kerry because he could make their financial situation better.

and anti bush sentiment is what turns swing voters off. they don't want to hear rants against bush. they want to hear what kerry has to offer them. they will never hate bush. they agree with bush on many things like abortion, gay marriage etc.

kerry gave a speech at the american legion which was a conservative audience and he not only got applause but he got cheers when he talked about thigns to offer them which had to do with veterans benefits.

[sampsonblk]

"and anti bush sentiment is what turns swing voters off"

There's where we disagree. What makes you think that?

If there is any reason why many are still in love with Bush, its because we didn't kick his butt when we should have. Its not too late to do it. I think Kerry has decided to go for it.

Why is it he can use scumbag tactics, but we can't even bash him? I never understood that. And I don't buy it now. He's not a popular guy anymore. Its time to pound him.

[JI7]

15. because they hate partisan politics , Kerry led when he talked issues

i can understand why the republicans don't want to talk issues and rather focus on negative politics and attacking personalities, but i'm not sure why those who claim to be liberals want to do the same thing.

[sampsonblk]

17. Why do liberal wants to use negative politics

Because it works. And there are plenty of negative (and true) things the mention about Bush.

This guy is using 9/11 for his campaign. Some in his campaign are implying that it was Clinton's fault, but that Bush rescued us. Or that if Kerry were president, he would have sold off all our weapons and let the terrorists kill us all.

This ain't about being liberal. Its about winning. If we don't fight back hard against that stuff, then its the same as saying its true. (See: Swift Vets)

[JI7]

18. he has answered but the

republicans and so called liberals don't pay attention. they accuse him of false things.

[sampsonblk]

20. This election is not about only the people who pay attention

What he says (or doesn't say) can't swing you or me. But what about the people who, as you noted, only pay attention to headlines every now and then? Bush is using industrial-strength scum on them.

Anyway, over the past few days, Kerry has answered finally. "What about your 5 deferments?" is a whole lot better than "Why won't you talk about the issues?"

I think Kerry has turned the corner.

[JI7]

21. he didn't say "why don't you talk about the issues" he talks

about the number of lost jobs and lost health care and other problems that affect people.

and he brought up the issue of cheney not serving in war many times. the fact that those who most complain about kerry not doing it yet don't know he has says a lot about how much their advice is worth.

[sampsonblk]

22. Low blows are not necessary

Everyone here knows what Kerry has said.

As for those who don't pay much attention, its Kerry's responsibility to make sure he gets heard. So don't blame me if "swing voters" are not hearing his message as loudly and clearly as he intends.

[sampsonblk]

7. Its not that there aren't ups and downs

Of course there are. However, I have listened to:

Everything's fine. Kerry is going to have a huge bounce.
Everything's fine. Polls are all wrong, Kerry got a great bounce.
Everything's fine. No bounce? Big deal. Bush won't get one either.

And now:
Everything's fine. Its just a little movement in the polls.

I am not alarmed at the poll. I expected this. I am alarmed at the strategy of focusing on undecideds. If this continues, I think it will allow Bush to frighten away some "decideds" who are soft on Kerry.

[JI7]

9. then those people are not decideds

and they sure as hell are not progressives since they get scared by bush into not voting for kerry.

and how is it solely focused on undecideds? do those so called "progressives" not think issues i mentioned in the other post are important such as stem cell research, abortion rights, moving the tax burden from the middle class onto the rich ?

the issues kerry talks about to appeal to undecideds are issues that the base of the democratic party supports.

those who get offended at candidates reaching out to people who are not part of the base even though they reach out to them using the issues of the party are a waste of time to deal with.

[sampsonblk]

12. I think you misunderestimate the fright card

The mfn Bush is nuts. Craig Crawford was right. Other than playing to his base, Bush's whole campaign is "Vote for Kerry and you will die!" A lot of people are buying this stuff. Including some really far left types. As soon as the fright card is played, all the talk of jobs seems to dissappear.

Look at the loonies in Ohio. Losing jobs out the ass, and still supporting Bush. WTF??

[JI7]

14. many people don't think bush is nuts

that's the problem with some bush haters. they assume everyone is like them. they assume everyone views things as they do.

and much of bush's support is a result of heavy coverage in his favor rather than as a result of people watching an entire speech or all those cable tv shows. it's newspaper, magazine, tv soundbytes etc.

and why do you think KErry talks about economic and other domestic issues. the far left and the republicans are the ones who want to focus on personalities and tearing others down. but kerry wants to move the debate on the issues because that's where he wins. but for some reason the republicans and the so called left have a problem with that.

[sampsonblk]

16. By "nuts" I mean fearless, bold, willing to take outrageous risks

It is an outrage for him and his people to say these things about Kerry. Its too far gone to believe. And yet he and his people are doing it and it works. I don't see any fear on his part of being labeled a basher, or of having a backlash from swing voters. Bush is 100% going for the gutso. All the scum he and his people can dig up. They blatantly put their convention in NYC. Everyone knew why: so they could exploit 9/11. That's all they have. And they did it. And its working.

You say "but kerry wants to move the debate on the issues because that's where he wins." Bush has defined the issues already. If Kerry lists all the positions that you mentioned earlier, he would lose in a landslide. Bush has solidified many of those things as bad in the public mind. (My opinion) Kerry won't even publicly admit he's a liberal. That should tell us something about the state of the issues.

Bush isn't an issues guy anyway. He won't fight on the issues. He is going to try to destroy Kerry's reputation. Can you wage an issues campaign against that? Maybe so, but not entirely. I don't see a formula for winning that is not heavy on slamming Bush.

[JI7]

19. so you want to Kerry to follow Bush's lead ?

[incapsulated]

13. Heh...

Pretty accurate synopsis.

I'm not panicing, but I am very concerned. I've learned from previous elections, and from being a Ranger fan: never, ever, lose the fear of losing.

[emulatorloo]

5. Undecideds will come back to Kerry as he exposes Bush's BS about him

This is movement based on Swift Boat Lies and repug lies about Kerry's record.

Kerry will recover these folks.