Who are the undecided voters and how have they not made up their minds?
Full episode: Who are the undecided?
With just 48 days until voters cast their ballots, we explore the fierce competition for undecided voters. We dive into who these coveted voters are, what issues matter most to them, and how the Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaigns are fighting to win them over.
This year’s presidential election features two candidates that voters are divided on as they prepare to head to the polls in November.
Recent polls show a tight race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in the race for the White House, as most voters have decided who they are leaning towards to become the nation’s president. However, there are still constituents on the fence about whether to vote for Harris or Trump.
Who are the undecided voters?
The number of undecided voters is tough to figure out since most polls do not offer "undecided" as an option in election surveys.
A Gallup poll in August tried to pin down the number of undecided voters. According to that poll, Democrats were slightly more decided than Republicans: 93% of Democrats had made up their mind, while 86% of Republicans said they had done the same.
That left about one in six registered voters (16%) still undecided about who to vote for. About 60% of independents had made up their minds; 35% have not, Gallup said.
FILE-People watch the ABC News presidential debate between Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump at a debate watch party on September 10, 2024 in West Hollywoo
Of course, that was before the debate and other events, like the second assassination attempt on the former president. Currently, polling experts tell the Los Angeles Times that their estimate of "undecideds" is between 5% and 10% of the electorate.
Some constituents are considered "low-information voters," meaning people who are only now tuning into the presidential campaign.
Others are so-called "double haters" — voters who dislike both candidates. As many as 15% of the electorate fell into this category in polls last month, although that number is dwindling.
The Los Angeles Times noted that most of the 20 swing voters were not entirely undecided, but almost all said they needed more information — especially about Harris — before they decided on a candidate.
Political expert discusses undecided voters in November’s election
In the latest episode of "Battleground," a half-hour weekly show covering the seven swing states likely to decide November’s election, New York Times journalist David Leonhardt offered his thoughts on undecided voters and possible reasons why some aren’t set on a candidate.
"So the first thing I would say is a lot of people don't follow politics as closely as you do, but that is," Leonhardt said. "For as many of your viewers do not live there. They're coaching their kids' teams or they are working two jobs and they're just not following politics that closely. So that's part of the answer. Part of the answer is we did define this broadly. So this is both people who don't express a preference yet at all."
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"It's also people who say they do prefer either Trump or Harris, but only probably that they're open still open to changing their minds. And then the final thing I would say is, look, you can imagine as different as Trump and Harris are, you could imagine someone having concerns about both of them."
Key issues for undecided voters
"Maybe, hey, I don't like the rise in prices and the huge surge in migration under the Biden administration. But they say I don't like the fact that Trump, his main legislation was cutting taxes for rich people. And I don't like all the craziness around it. And you can imagine someone having both those views and just saying, I'm still making up my mind."
When asked if undecided voters care about different things than voters who've already made up their minds for November’s election, Leonhardt said "They do a little bit. So basically, all groups of voters say they care most about the economy. They care. They either say economy or they say inflation in prices, which is really just the economy."
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"So that's the number one issue for all kinds of voters. It is also it is the case, however, that there are some hot button issues that you hear more about from people who've already made up their minds. So immigration is an issue that is important to some swing voters, but it's more important to Republicans than it is to swing voters," Leonhardt noted.
"And abortion is an issue that is definitely more important to Democrats than it is to swing voters. Now, it is still make sense for Donald Trump to be talking about immigration and Kamala Harris to be talking about abortion because this race is going to be so close that that there are people who might be swayed by one of those two issues. But really, what swing voters are most focused on is the economy. And I think that explains why you hear the candidates talking about it so much. It's why you hear common. We're talking again and again about an opportunity economy. It's why her ads talk about her as having grown up a middle class kid. And it's why you hear Trump talking so much about how much prices increased during the Biden administration."