Undecided?

As Election Day approaches, there continues to be discussion about undecided voters. In a piece from last week's New Yorker, David Sedaris asks the question many of us have been asking: how can one be undecided in this election?

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.

That's definitely funny, and a big part of me agrees. But perhaps it's also a bit harsh. A recent op-ed in the NY Times adopts a different perspective by articulating the undecided voter phenomenon as a reflection of the neuroscience and psychology of decision-making. It argues that many such voters have actually made a choice that has not yet gained enough confidence to reach the threshold of consciousness.

This might seem to rescue undecided voters from the accusation that they are out-of-touch or foolish. But I must admit, it remains puzzling to me how these "implicit choices" that ultimately mature into votes could be without intensity, force, or passion for so long when there is so much at stake.