Undecided and Disaffected Voters Must Educate Themselves

By Norman Franklin

Norman Franklin

There are two segments of the electorate that, intentional or not, may determine the outcome of the election, and they pose a threat to democracy. The disaffected subset of both parties can erode the foundational trust of our processes of governance.

Nearly one in five voters for the November election are undecided. The 18% of undecided are a diverse group. Nearly half are under 45 years of age, 62 percent white, and 60% women.

Their political interests are less national, less ideological, and there is no clear lean towards either party. The personal impacting concerns of jobs, inflation, and food prices dominates the focus of their concerns.

Disaffected voters, about 15% in both parties, harbor dissatisfaction with system processes. Albeit Republicans and Democrats differ on causations.

Republicans, “Disaffected Conservatives” are skeptical of the election process. Only 47% hold confidence that the election will be conducted without fraud. They feel alienated from the current political system.

The Democratic disaffected voter angst is with the party’s lack of focus on income inequality, healthcare, and climate change. They are progressive, younger millennials and Gen Z; they feel the party’s older leadership is out of touch with issues affecting them - student debt relief and racial justice.

Disaffected voters may demonstrate their dissatisfaction by disengagement, protest voting, and supporting populist movements. Increased trending of disaffected voters will serve to dismantle democracy through lower voter turnout, polarization and extremism, a rise in populism, and erosion of trust in system processes.

Inflation, job security, and everyday economic challenges e.g., housing affordability, mortgage rates and the rising cost of groceries, top the list of concerns for undecided voters. Government integrity and election security is the focus of the disaffected voters. Debunking the disinformation and grandstanding of extreme conservative politicians will inform the undecided, reengage the disaffected and expose the hypocrisy of the partisan divide over critical issues of national and global concern.

At the center of partisan divide is support for Ukraine. Extremist on the right favor discontinuing aid for Ukraine’s war against Russia. With America’s military support, Ukraine has withstood Russian aggression for more than three years. Republicans want to cut aid immediately. They also blame Democrats for inflation and high food prices. The undecided and disaffected voters are unaware of the connection between the two - aid for Ukraine and inflation-driven high food prices.

What happens with Ukraine has global impact. There is a contradiction in the indignation against support. Conservatives have made high food prices a key platform issue and oppose critical aid for Ukraine. Here is the contradiction.

Ukraine, one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of grains, is critical to global food security. Many countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia rely on Ukrainian grains. When these countries face food shortages, higher prices result; it affects global food prices. The ripple effect reaches US food markets; consumers feel the pinch at checkout.

Another economic sector strained by the war in Ukraine is agriculture. Ukraine, along with Russia, plays a major role in global fertilizer production. The war has disrupted the supply of potash and nitrogen-based fertilizer. This impacts global agriculture productivity.

It is a contradiction to oppose aid for Ukraine and champion lower food prices as a conservative economic concern.

The distrust of the election process is hype. Election fraud has not been proven. Maniacal election deniers have sowed the seed of mistrust throughout the electorate without data to support their claims.

The undecided and disaffected subsets must learn to do their own research and trust the data. This will lead to reengagement in the political processes, and responsible voting.