Official election predictions

[Alex]

I think there is a difference between being open to a change of mind based on late breaking information and actually being undecided. I chose to support Obama a long time ago, but I'm open to changing my mind if sufficient new information came to light.

If, at this point, one honestly doesn't know whether, in the absence of new information, they'll vote for Obama or McCain then I wouldn't use stupid (though they might be), I'd assume such a person falls into one three groups:

1. They have somehow managed to avoid learning anything substantive about the candidates and therefore do not have the necessary information for making a decision. This isn't stupidity, it is ignorance.

2. They hold personal views so shallowly examined that they do not have any kind of mental framework within which to judge the merits of the candidate positions. This isn't necessarily stupidity, but it is a lack of curiosity about oneself.

3. They do have an idea of how they want to vote, but it is out of step with what they view as their community (church, geographic area, circle of friends, whatever) norm that they can't pull the trigger on committing to it. This could be a closet Obama fan in a deeply Republican house, a resident of the Castro who kind of likes McCain, etc.

Though there is, of course, the group of the "pushover" which may be closest to stupidity. People who always agree with the last person they heard speak.