Remember when Herman Cain was leading the republican primary? Then Michele Bachmann takes the lead? Then Rick Perry takes the lead before his infamous “oops” moment? … Newt was in the lead for awhile, as was Santorum, right? The guy who ended up actually winning the republican primary (that Mitt Romney guy) was rarely, if ever, in the lead for the bulk of the process (…as far as I can remember… the polls changed so often it was difficult to keep up, which is the point of this post).
Now during the general we’re seeing 10 point swings not only in the presidential polling, but in key Senate and congressional races as well. It’s all basically voodoo at this point. When we can look at 5 different polls and all of them contradict one another in either who is in the lead and/or by how much… what’s the point of a poll?
Why are the polls so crazy and always changing?
The 2012 election has also brought the infamous “undecided voter” to the forefront. I have a dent in one of my walls that’s a result of my pounding my head against it trying to understand how in the world someone could be undecided when the policy positions of the two presidential candidates are so incredibly different from top to bottom on fiscal policy to domestic spending or cuts, to foreign policy, and the implications for the Supreme Court. They are so far apart… how in the world can someone be undecided?
My theory starts by taking us back to high school… the drama class girl “actress” whose purpose on campus was to garner as much attention as possible. Remember her? In my high school days… social media didn’t really exist, so people tried to get attention the old fashoined way. Since getting attention from one’s peers was a bit more difficult… it required more work than just a click of a mouse… the number of people who lived their lives seeking attention was a lot lower than it is today.
Now, seeking social attention is a built-in part of the American (and Western) psyche (thanks to myspace, then youtube, then facebook; and inside all that reality television). Just think about the hundreds of millions of photos on the Internet of people who have used their cell phone or built-in camera on their computer to take sassy-looking pictures of themselves… we have a few billion people who have turned into the high school drama queen.
People want to be important. People want to be noticed. People need attention. People want other people to think that they are interesting… social media has exacerbated this need a hundred fold… hence: the undecided voter.
We live in a society now where receiving attention from some form of media (tv, radio, internet news, blogs, or social networks) is a motivation in our everyday lives. If you disagree with this, then ask yourself: do you post on facebook? How about twitter? Do you check your follower or friend count? Do you get a little boost if you notice you have more people liking a facebook post than you normally do? Social media in particular has ingrained an attention deficit in our souls that can only be filled with likes, pokes, re-tweets, shares, and whatever else can be done by others that is a social media method of boosting one’s ego. That need for constant affirmation that is a direct result of the new social media mindset is why people are constant, flakey, irrational undecided voters. They LOVE the attention they get as a result of being part of that “select few.”
Personally, I find that pathetic… but that’s just me. If you like attention, then keep on taking photos of yourself with your new iPhone, post around and feel better about yourself when people you barely know take the time to click a thumbs up icon… if that’s how you find meaning in life, it’s your life to live – I just don’t see any meaning in that. It’s worse than having babies to compensate for a lack of meaning you feel you have in society; reproducing to fill a selfish void that exists either because you don’t get outside into the sun enough, or you chose to buy into the idea that money and property are the primary criteria to defining your self-worth.
With daily tracking polls, swing states, always-red-or-blue states… polls don’t really mean anything anymore. Just like people realized they could get attention first by sending in a video of their uncle getting hit in the balls by a baseball bat to America’s Funniest Home Videos… then doing the same on youtube, then getting attention by doing even less work and simply re-tweeting or posting a goofy photo… people during election cycles realized they can get attention by remaining undecided… even when that shouts in the face of all logic, because how in the world can you not know the difference between two candidates with severely differing policy stances? … Unless in doing so you get the spotlight turned on you so that the whole country pays attention.
Polling people who think like that is pointless – and yet they are the people who might very well decide many elections. They don’t even know what they think – all they care about is that for a fleeting moment, THEY are the center of attention, and as such, they will keep the game going as long as they can.
Published: by | Updated: 04-21-2015 17:25:30
