# How are there any undecided voters left? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 16, 2020, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-there-any-undecided-voters-left/920761 "2020-09-16T14:00:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 11
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-there-any-undecided-voters-left/920761/11 "2020-09-16T16:58:01Z")
Good points by lots of folks above. There’s another factor to the undecideds. Many people are profoundly uncomfortable with the idea of “voting against” one side by voting for the other. They want somebody to vote _for_, not somebody to vote _against_. So even if the voter dislikes Trump and all he stands for, if Biden isn’t good enough to vote _for_, then voting _for_ a 3rd party or no-vote is “better” psycho-emotionally than voting pro-Biden which is really voting _against_ Trump. Mathematically, a vote for anyone other than Biden is 1-for-1 helpful to Trump. Many people understand that. But math is not what rules the mind; it’s emotion. Recall all the bumper stickers: “Don’t blame me; I voted for {whoever lost the last election}”. That blame thing is real, real big. Another factor somebody mentioned that bears repeating. Every single voter who traditionally / typically votes R but is now between unhappy and appalled by Trump is struggling with the dilemma that he/she dislikes everything they think they know about the Democratic platform. Much of which is probably false, but that’s a different story for a different thread. So it turns into “How awful do I fear a D president will be versus how awful to I fear Trump will be?” Once again there’s no good choice to be had once you phrase it that way. In general people love to make decisions when there’s an obvious good choice. They hate to make decisions that amount to selecting the least-bad choice. Those decisions will be postponed, procrastinated, and if at all possible deferred until outside circumstances make them disappear. That’s how you get somebody undecided at this late date: in their mind they’re facing a least-bad choice and delaying the resolution as long as possible. Hell, if they decide to show up on polling day they may not be able to force themselves to make a decision until they’re in the booth with marker in hand. Eenie meanie minie moe … --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-there-any-undecided-voters-left/920761)._