What's in a name? One-third of U.S. voters don't know candidates: Reuters/Ipsos poll

[DonViejo]

Source: Reuters



OCTOBER 3, 2018 / 9:47 AM / UPDATED 20 MINUTES AGO

Maria Caspani
4 MIN READ

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Less than five weeks before elections that will determine control of the U.S. Congress for the next two years, about a third of registered voters do not know the name of their party’s candidate for office, a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll found.

Name recognition is critical in motivating voters, is the reason candidates spend millions of dollars on TV ads and is a major factor in incumbents’ advantage in fending off challengers.

But it may be slightly less critical on Nov. 6 as many voters may view their choices as referendums on a man whose name will not be on the ballot: Republican President Donald Trump.

“With the current party polarization, voters increasingly vote based on party (read: like or dislike Trump) rather than the local candidates,” Robert Erikson, a professor of political science at Columbia University in New York City, wrote in an email.



Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-name/whats-in-a-name-one-third-of-u-s-voters-dont-know-candidates-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKCN1MD1QC

[Javaman]

1. that same one third voted for the orange asshole. nt

[Fred Sanders]

2. If there were mandatory voting with a nominal fine for offence I bet folks would scurry to find

out the names of the candidates.

A law worth any price, hands down.

You all want a functioning democracy then function like you do?!

Why are there any unregistered voters??

Why isn't everyone a Likely Voter?

[SWBTATTReg]

5. I don't think this fine would work, would be thought of as a 'poll tax', and the issue of ...

improving voter participation numbers at election time is still up in the air. I guess when elections perhaps can span over multiple days, e.g., instead of just the first Tuesday of November, have it the first week of November, increasing the opportunities for voters to vote. Also, perhaps increase the number of locations where voters can vote (if enough poll workers can be found, who are usually volunteers). Maybe have, in the top 10 shopping centers / etc. where voters are concentrated to do their shopping, have traveling voting stations (via buses or the like). Or, have a selection of schools in every community offer government classes, where the tests to be passed would be to actually support the school in being a voting station/site? This would seem to be a no brainer (we own the school already, students would get credits, etc.).

This is a big issue, and you would think more people would be concerned about it, but I keep hearing about over the last 4 decades, and it keeps coming up. Obviously some studies need to be done on it, like perhaps study other countries that have better participation rates. Problem is Congress funding it/and or states funding these efforts...probably won't since it would lead to their downfall perhaps.

[Fred Sanders]

6. Who needs more info.? The working labs are countries like Australia and there is no problem at all!

Whatever it takes, folks need to get informed...even if it takes a jolt of whoopass 50 buck fine every 2 years.

[SWBTATTReg]

7. Unrealistic. Won't work. NT

[Firestorm49]

3. Eerie numbers

So, according to Reuters, 1/3 don’t know the names of their own candidates running for office for the upcoming mid-terms, and then there’s the 1/3 of the American public who cling to Trump like a dirty diaper. Then there are the “undecided”, and/or independents adding to the percentage.

If this country goes down in flames, we will no longer have to blame tRump, or the GOP. All we will have to do is look into a mirror and give ourselves the big middle finger.

[CanonRay]

4. Then think of the 1/2 of people who don't even vote

or register to vote. A huge percentage of the country are just in a fog.

[PearliePoo2]

8. I would guess that even more than a third of the people asked on the street could not...

name the three branches of government or know the Vice President's name.

It's appalling. Uneducated or uninterested or both.

[LisaM]

9. Part of the reason (in my state, anyway) is that our ballots are cluttered with initiatives

and referenda, on the state, county, and city level. Not only that, we have a "jungle" primary, so that in many cases, Democrats were running against Democrats and Republicans against Republicans in some districts.

We've already had several elections this year alone. I think this is obfuscating. Part of the reason that people don't know their candidates is that in many cases, there's not any real contest going on, and in others, they've just made the ballots too dense.

I pay attention, I vote every election, I research the initiatives (which are generally set up with language meant to confuse voters), but I've always been very connected to politics and (up until 2000), enjoyed politics a lot.

I find the multiple elections, the ceaseless citizens' initiatives, and the murky choices to be a real deterrent, and if that happens to someone like me, who never misses an election and basically overcomes the deterrent, imagine what it does to people who aren't as engaged? Add to that, a significant portion of people are underserved as far as the internet, and they are likely getting even less information, which doesn't help a lot. This is why the GOP cements their base and doesn't really worry about much else - they don't need to. A third of people won't even vote, in my opinion, for many of the reasons I've described above.

But then, look at races like O'Rourke and Cruz - people know that one. It's drilled down to the basics. People have a very clear choice. More races need to be like that one.

The election system is broken.

[JonLP24]

10. I usually don't know most of the candidates until I get my ballot then I research

Even then Im not familiar with local candidates til I get my ballot or they follow me.

https://mobile.twitter.com/searsforjustice