"Swinginess"

No one should have an excuse for voting uninformed because there are so many outlets of information that it is impossible not to know what is going on in the 2008 election. But, deciding which candidate to choose can pose a bigger problem for some voters who are torn between the two candidates. I think it’s really cool how the media (i.e. the internet) has created things such as the Swing Vote Calculator to show how affective people in certain states with no allegiance can be. For example, with my demographics (IL, white, female, some college education, 18-29, Protestant), my “swinginess” is a 27 out of 100 but if I lived one state over in Indiana, my “swinginess” would be 100 out of 100. Since it’s not possible to know what either candidate will or will not do in his time in the White House, any vote is fair game but it is more effective in different states due to different demographics. How much influence do swing voters have in the election though? According to an article from Boston Globe and a study done by a Democratic Council , swing voters sway the vote by 6.7 percentage points between elections that Democrats win and lose. For the presidential candidates, influencing these “supervoters” as Reader’s Digest calls them is very crucial for the success of a candidate because they have the potential to determine the winner next Tuesday!