Procrastination is usually frowned upon, but in a narrowly divided presidential election, voters who hold off on making a decision until the last minute may have the power to decide the country’s future.
Both campaigns and their foreign allies have spent millions of dollars trying to find and reach a relative handful of relative hunters, late deciders and truly torn voters who have not decided how (or if) they will cast their votes — the precious needles in a giant haystack. an American electorate that has little interest in being found by political campaigns and has major problems with one or both of the major parties.
The ranks of the aggressors are rapidly dwindling. In NBC News’ national poll for early Octoberonly 4% of registered voters said they did not want to choose between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. When NBC News contacted 40 of them again this week, 17 agreed to be interviewed and only five said they were still making up their minds.
Seven of those who decided after the poll three weeks ago said they voted for a third-party candidate or planned to write in under a different name. The two declined to share who they plan to vote for. One said he planned to vote for Trump, another said he was likely to vote for Harris, and another said he planned not to vote at all.
Late decision voters broke For Trump 2020 and 2016with some analysts and strategists in both campaigns giving credit to late-deciders for electing Trump eight years ago.
How anyone could be undecided a week after a critical election may be hard to fathom for supporters of Trump or Harris. But these late decision makers have their reasons for dragging their feet.
Most are unhappy with their choices on the ballot and the state of the country in general. They feel conflicted about the cross-pressures on different policies and their impressions of candidates pulling them in opposite directions, especially Trump. Many people pay little attention to politics and say they don’t have time to research and think. Some say they are waiting until they are at the polls to make a decision.
Here’s what they told NBC News about how they plan to make their decision.
Who is still undecided?
Some voters who were still undecided said they needed to learn more about the candidates’ policies.
Eric Bush, a system administrator from Florida, said he waited until he was in the voting booth to make his final choice. Despite not voting in 2020, he said he will vote this year.
“I am extremely fiscally conservative,” Bush said, focusing on taxes. “But from a social point of view, I am extremely liberal. But at the same time, I don’t believe in adopting laws to implement my beliefs or positions.”
Another voter from Connecticut said he should have done more research. But he said his main focus was the economy, not social issues.
“I don’t care what people do about social issues like abortion and smoking pot,” said the voter, who declined to be named. He said he wanted to focus on “understanding the policy, not the personal.”
More than one undecided voter has bad news for the Trump and Harris campaigns: There’s not much the candidates can do to sway them.
“There’s nothing they can say to get me on their team,” said Deshaun Hall, a 38-year-old self-described “African-American” poet from Pennsylvania.
“When I walk into the booth, it’s going to be more: Am I going down a path that can help me more financially? Or will I help others more financially? This will be my decision now,” he added.
Hall leans toward Republican principles of small government and could potentially support Trump, thinking a vote for Trump could help him financially. But he still thinks he supports Harris, acknowledging that a vote for Harris could lead to bigger government policies that could help others.
“I never heard him say anything on TV that sounded crazy,” Hall said. “But the flip side of that is you don’t feel like you know who he is.”
Pick a side
While some voters are still undecided, others have made up their minds in recent weeks.
One federal employee, who did not want to be named, said he was almost certain he voted for Harris. He said he was “tired of partisan politics” and less excited about the message of Trump’s campaign, saying the former president lacked a focus on unity.
“We are a very diverse nation. We have many ideas. We have a lot of people here, and I fundamentally believe that all those voices sit at the table and should be considered.” “Majority rule isn’t always the wisest thing in terms of good decisions, and so I’m really looking for a candidate who can work constructively.”
On the other side, Helen Peppas, a 74-year-old Republican from Idaho, said she struggled for weeks over whether to vote for her party’s nominee. “God helped me make this decision,” he said. Despite concerns about his actions after the 2020 election, she ultimately supported Trump, describing him as a “spoiled little brat.”
“I don’t like the guy, but I feel like he did more for us when he was there before,” he said. “So I pray that he has a better mindset and doesn’t act as stupid as he used to.”
Another voter, who did not want to be named or share his vote choice, said his decision depends on which candidate can bring about the most change.
Harris said struggling to name something he would have done differently since Biden left him “incredibly uncomfortable.”
“Trump says, ‘I’m going to do the same thing.’ [as] when I was in office.” “I’m going to do what Biden did,” the voter told Kamala, adding later: “That’s the worst. The last thing I want to hear is the same thing as the last eight years.”
Picking door #3: Neither Harris nor Trump
Other late-deciding voters said they never chose Trump or Harris for a simple reason: They couldn’t stomach voting for either Trump or Harris, and instead planned to support third-party candidates, write-in or simply stay. home
Independent voter Rachel Naiziurski, 37, of western New York said she voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein to protest the Biden administration’s support for Israel in the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.
“I understand locally, Trump would be worse for women here and personally for my beliefs here,” she said. “But I cannot stop financing this genocide.” Naiziurski added that he might be more compelled to support Harris if he lived in a swing state.
A voter in Amarillo, Texas, said he plans to vote for Chase Oliver, the Libertarian candidate he thinks will come closest to “success” in his policy goals, even though he doesn’t expect to win.
The Texan, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he agrees with Trump on most issues, including his support for gun rights, but he thinks he can’t vote for the former president after he “turned his back” on former Vice President Mike Pence. and other Republicans on January 6, 2021, during the Capitol riots.
“I voted [Oliver] because I honestly cannot vote for the other two,” he said.
Nebraska Republican Rob Czaplewski, 54, plans to write in another name for the president, possibly former UN ambassador Nikki Haley. burned him as unfit for office when she ran against him in the GOP primary.
“I see a lot of people who do the exact opposite of me. They’re trying to pick the lesser of two evils… But I just don’t want to pick the two evils,” he said. “I want to pick someone I can actually vote for, like Nikki Haley or Marco Rubio.”
Czaplewski said he never voted for Trump, described the former president as “unprofessional” and “undiplomatic” and said “conspiracy theories drive his politics.” But he failed to endorse Harris because he disagrees with him on policy, particularly on social issues and immigration.
He said there was nothing Trump or Harris could say to change his mind in the waning days of the race.
“I know I’m casting my vote, I’m casting my vote,” Czaplewski said. “But at least I can say I never voted for Trump.”