Last week when I accompanied an elderly friend to the Senior Center luncheon, I had no idea I would be treated to a crash course in the mind-set of Low-Info Voters. But as we took our seats at a table of 12, I heard the familiar names of Obama, McCain and Hillary being tossed about.
The man to my right, (I'm guessing he was late 70s) was bashing Obama, albeit in vague terms. So I asked him, what specifically, turns him off Obama. "He's a flip-flopper" he said.
Interesting, I thought, and pressed him, "What's the most important thing he's flip-flopped on, do you think?"
"Abortion," he said without hesitation.
Recovering from my stun, I said, "Obama is pro choice!"
"See...he can't make up his mind...he just flip flops between for abortion and against abortion."
No amount of explanation of the term "pro choice" made a dent on this guy.
While struggling to get my head around the fact that a 70-ish man's top-of-mind issue was abortion, one of the ladies started talking about universal health care. She was against it. That's right, she was against it because it would mean that her tax dollars would be spent on dope addicts and smokers and other people who had abused their bodies into ill health and were, therefore, uninsured.
Fool that I am, I tried to explain that there were many more situations where people were uninsured...kids, people who has lost their jobs, companies who ceased offering health care...but she was adamant. She firmly believed that anyone who wants insurance has insurance and the others were either looking for a handout or drugs addicts or both.
The conversation went on, but it was plain that this was not a group of people who offered any wiggle room at all in their ideas. I did ask them if they planned to vote, and everyone, except for an obvious dementia-plagued lady said "Yes, absolutely, I always vote."
This is terrifying! How many people are there who operate with this flawed information? I felt like I had entered the Twilight Zone.
The thrust here must be to bring new voters to the polls. The youth vote is more crucial than ever.