I don't understand

[lapfog_1]

please, someone, explain the following:

I do not know even ONE Gore voter who is voting for Bush. I bet
there aren't many DUers that know of even ONE Gore voter who is
voting for Bush.

I do not know even ONE Nader voter (2000) who is voting for Bush.
Yet Nader is polling significantly less than he did in 2000.

Changing demographics SHOULD favor Kerry and the democrats as there
are more minority voters now than in 2000.

Gore won the popular vote by a significant margin in 2000.

Bush has united the anti-Bush forces like no one else has in
my memory, not Nixon or even Reagan.

And yet, if one listens to the pundits or reads the polls, this is a
very close race... with many predicting the BUSH may win the popular
vote only to lose the electoral vote!

And
http://www.electoral-vote.com/

which, for at least 8 weeks, large margins for Kerry in the electoral
college is now showing a virtual tie.

But I don't understand why?
Were there huge numbers of fundies that stayed home in 2000 who
are now coming out to vote for their guy? Are there lots of
progressives who aren't going to vote this time? (and aren't
voting for Nader either????) What the hell is going on?

[nyhuskyfan]

1. There are some Gore voters out there somewhere...

Who are scared little chickens now about terrorism and think we should stay with the current dictatorship to protect us. I don't know any myself, but I wish I could find them and ask them if we gave billions in tax cuts to the wealthy so that the wealthy would be willing to go out and secure our ports, nuclear facilities, etc. on their own. Not to mention protect the homeland while the national guard is in Iraq fighting an ongoing war of choice.

[arbusto_baboso]

2. Simple: It is NOT going to be close after the votes are tallied (if they

are tallied at all, or tallied honestly).

The media has an interest in claiming the race is close. Otherwise, they don't sell ad space, because there's nothing exciting (read:sensational) to report.

But here are some facts. Here in California - which is pretty much a lock for Kerry anyway - voters are quite apathetic usually. But new voter registrations are WAYYYYY up. And the inescapable fact of the new voter registrations in my part of the state is that for every new Republican registration, there are FIVE new Democratic registrations!

Now, does that mean I'm going to stop tabling and precinct walking? Hell no! But I'm not going to let the "liberal media" discourage me, either.

[blm]

3. The polls are being used to make it seem close so election can be stolen

more easily. If the public is led to believe it's really close they can believe Bush squeaked by again.

[lapfog_1]

7. This is my explanation too, EXCEPT

why have it represented as NOT that close at any point. Just
a few weeks ago the EC vote was 320+ for Kerry, one time as
high as 369 Kerry. If they were simply going to lie their asses
off about this being close, why not lie all the time?

[MichDem10]

4. One word : FEAR!!

Unfortunately there WILL be people who voted for Gore that will vote for the shrub because they are fearful. We need to stand up and take their country back for them!!

"Liberty is not given. Liberty is taken."

[lapfog_1]

6. OK, I might buy that

but then I would expect to know at least one person that fits
that category. Out of my circle of 60 or 70 adults that I have
passing political conversations with I would expect to know at
least one person who either didn't vote in 2000 or voted for Gore
who is now voting for Bush. And I don't. I admit that it's not
a large statistical sample, but then some of these scientific
polls only use a sample size of a few hundred. Anyway, the real
question is "How many DUers know of a Gore voter who is now a Bush
voter?" If even only a few hundred DUers read this and ask
themselves that question, that covers 10s of thousands of Gore
voters (assuming mostly non-overlapping circles of friends).

Anyway, I am very curious about this.

[Killarney]

5. There are some...

people that voted Gore that will vote Bush because 9/11 changed them. :eyes: Basically warmongers.

And there are ideological, naive, idiots that will vote Nader or someone else rather than get over it and vote Kerry.

[scarletwoman]

8. Sadly, there ARE previous Gore voters who will vote for Bush this time.

I've heard some say so myself, and also seen some being interviewed on local TV news shows. We are deluding ourselves if we think this isn't happening -- it IS.

This is a nation full of self-centered, ignorant, uninfnormed non-critical thinkers. They outnumber concerned, informed critical thinkers significantly. This is the reality with which we are faced: we are surrounded by masses of people who are essentially clueless and easily swayed by big media propaganda.

Most of the people I work with are proud of the fact that they don't read newspapers and refuse to be bothered with political discussions. At the same time, they abhor any criticism of bush* -- responding that "He's the president, we ought to respect him."

These aren't partisans -- they don't CARE enough about politics to be partisan -- they simply don't pay attention, and they don't WANT to pay attention. They see absolutely NO connection between government policies and their own lives -- none. If they bother to vote at all -- which few of them ever do -- they will no doubt vote for the incumbent, on the basis that he probably is doing a good enough job, and the other guy apparently has a questionable past.

That's why the repug smear machine works so well. Gore voters for bush*? I'm sure there are PLENTY, I'm sorry to say. It's best to face up to the truth of how ill-informed the average voter is in this country.

sw

[Meshuga]

9. There are a lot of new voters out there this time

...after 9/11 and Iraq war there are several new registered voters who are not being counted in the polls. People want Bush out and my faith is that ABB'ers are going to the polls in masses.

Remember the turnouts in the primaries and caucuses early this year? There were some record numbers of people going out there to vote. That's an awesome sign which was not considered much in the media analysis.

My only fear is a Bush cheat.