The influence of undecided voters on the outcome of the US presidential election

2024-10-21 20:17:46, Kosova & Bota CNA

In this final month of the US presidential campaign, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are trying to win the support of a relatively small number of voters who say they are still undecided about which candidate they will support in the November 5 election. As VOA correspondent Scott Stearns reports, this group of voters is important in states where the race is tight.

Some Americans are already voting in the presidential election, taking advantage of early voting in many states.

But some voters have not yet decided which candidate they will vote for.

"I want to get to know them better, because I was not really engaged in this process. The candidates come from interesting and diverse backgrounds. I want to learn more about both parties and how they represent their candidates," says MaryBeth Giovacchini, voter from New York.

According to polls, undecided voters make up about 3 percent of the electorate in the United States.

"Many voters have not yet begun to pay enough attention to the elections. I think if you ask them, that's the answer they might give. While some people in the central part of the country may be reserved and refuse to reveal who they will vote for. So we have this group of voters," says John Johnson, a researcher at Marquette University School of Law.

The campaigns of candidates Harris and Trump are winning the support of some of these undecided voters, says University of Massachusetts researcher Tatishe Nteta.

"The population of undecided voters is shrinking. It's shrinking every day. Most people will make up their minds before Election Day, and what's going to be really important is the mobilization on the ground of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, in these elections that are expected to be extremely close," he says.

Candidates Trump and Harris face different challenges in trying to win the support of undecided voters, says Brookings Institution scholar Darrell West.

"He needs to assure Americans that he respects the law and that he will not be chaotic if he becomes president. She, on the other hand, has less experience and three years ago expressed much more liberal views than the policies she is supporting now. So Kamala Harris needs to assure voters that her presidency will reflect her current policies," he says.

Former President Trump is the most popular candidate and has some advantages and disadvantages when it comes to undecided voters, says researcher John Johnson.

“This is Mr. Trump's third time running, so most people already have strong opinions about him. So from this small group of undecided voters, the two parties are working hard to win the support of a part of them, a single digit percentage of voters," he says.

These efforts are being made by both campaigns, because these undecided voters could be decisive in determining the winner in close races in undecided states on November 5./ VOA