Why are some Democrats still undecided at this late stage in the process?

I know who I want to be the nominee, but it’s January and by the time caucuses and primaries are over, it may not be that person. It’s all up in the air.

It is easier to tell you the names of the people I would never support in a million years.

^ That makes sense. Thank you.

I feel like it doesn’t pay to dissect what the candidates say at this point, until the field is narrowed down to just a few. The candidates are dropping like flies and if I had made my choice a few months ago or even a month ago, perhaps some of those aren’t even in the running now.

And I’m trying to explain. What part of my post was not clear? Let me say it again. We wait because we want to see how it plays out and who will adopt some of the ideas and platforms of the ones who are no longer candidates by the time the primaries come around.
Is that clear, yet?

No need to be rude ^

This is an honest question with no tone involved. Thank you to those keeping it civil.

For a lot of people, it’s not really that late in the process. Very few people pay attention to the entirety of the primary cycle, and most voters dip in and out of the proceedings until election day is approaching. So while it’s pretty common for people to have a top two or three candidates in mind by this point, it’s not as common for people to have fully made up their mind.

The framing of US elections is STUPID AS DIRT and the parties picking their candidates suffer from the same FUNDAMENTAL LOGICAL MATH ERROR that so few people have awareness of, that it never gets fixed.

That is, even if the politicians were all honest well-meaning adults, it’s a basic mistake to have polls and elections ask, “Which ONE candidate, out of more than two, do you support?” because that over-simplified framing of the question doesn’t actually measure preference, especially when combined with the expectation that the election will also be a forced choice of the lesser one of the only two viable (because big corrupt party) candidates.

That is, people are being forced to reduce their thoughts to saying they support only one person. And also being asked “which candidate can defeat Trump?” as part of the question. Then they got a parade of candidates, many of whom most people had little or no knowledge of. Since people get one vote each, it spreads out the votes and confuses people, and the most known candidates, and the ones people think are “electable” or have heard something about revently, get more votes, etc.

Votes and primaries need to allow voting for ranked preference, or at least for or against each candidate, not just “pick only one”, which mainly produces the noise of actual opinion being sucked away.

It matters more to me who wins the election than who wins the nomination. Not being a fortune teller, I don’t know who can orevail. I have my personal preference of whom most people can tell, but I have no need to wave anyone’s flag or be a purist.

I don’t have to pick one until the primary. fivethirtyeight dot com shows the frontrunners as Biden, Sanders, Warren, and Buttigieg. I have preferences among them, but they could all do the job of president.

I like the progressive ideas of some of the nominees, but I don’t care much for how they express themselves. Too much anger and shouting. It is okay to be angry and to connect with the anger of the public, but I don’t want to hear it in your voice. What I want to see is poise and what I want to hear is self-confidence and leadership. I want to know what you plan to do and how you want to pay for it, and I want to be convinced that you will make an effort to bring it to fruition.

Why do Dems take a while to make decisions? Maybe because Dems are fair-minded, insightful and conscientious voters?

I am not a Democrat, so anything I say should be taken with a grain of salt. Although I am not a Democrat, there are Democrats whom I would have voted for over McCain or Romney, or Jeb Bush or Rubio,

In my opinion, all of the current contenders are too far left, and several of them are running on nothing but defeating Donald Trump in 2020. One might actually do that if they made that (defeating Trump) a secondary issue or merely a bi-product of winning the election.

Stanch Democrats (absolute lefties) have already made up their minds. It’s the 50% who are Moderates/Centrists to any degree who make up the rest. As more of a middle-of-the-roader, I’ve made up my mind who I like. Will he be the party’s candidate?? We’ll see…

Watching candidates go through this process allows you to see them self destruct, and how they react to different things.
Early in the campaign, I supported Kamala Harris. During her campaign, she began making crazy proposals.

Well I won’t get adamant about a particular candidate. What if my first choice doesn’t get the nomination?

@Dutchess_lll You vote for your party’s convention selected candidate. (After all, you can’t have your cake and eat it, too.)

I’m a fair-minded, insightful and conscientious voter. I’ve looked at all the nominees and wasn’t 100% at the beginning. I considered Buttigieg for some time but he doesn’t align with some things that are important to me. Just because I decided early on doesn’t mean I’m not any of these things.

@Dutchess_lll Then you support the nominee if your choice isn’t the nominee. You still need to pick someone in the primary. My primary is only two months away and we’ve known who the nominees are for long enough.

Exactly. So why would I declare my support for a candidate who didn’t make it through the primaries? That’s not being undecided.
In 2016 my son got excited about an election for the first time in his life because I failed as a parent because he felt “The Bern.” I was reserved but didn’t say so.
Hillary won the nomination and my son didn’t vote in protest.
We just CAN’T do that again.

^Are you not voting in the primaries? You pick a candidate and vote for them if you vote in the primaries. This is what my question is about. It’s not about the general election. Can we stop with the vote blue no matter who? We aren’t there yet. We need to choose a candidate first.

I’m undecided. Let’s see who makes it to the Florida primaries.

I think I might go with Klobuchar, but I’m not sure. I’m still very open to changing my mind. I’m not completely read up on all of the candidates, so I need to do my research first before deciding.

I wish we could vote for a first and second choice.

Yes. I will vote in the primaries. No guarantee my vote means anything.

^ then why berate Bernie supporters if you feel your vote doesn’t mean anything?

The primary reason is that they don’t have to decide—yet.

Late stage?! Voting hasn’t even started yet. Many people have only just begun to consider the question, and are still very unsure of themselves since 2016.

A complex interplay of apathy, horror, information, propaganda, and a generally low opinion of our fellow man is reshaping the debate every day. Until more concrete things start to happen, people are very unsure where they stand.

I’m focusing on the impeached trial right now.

^^Impeachment trial…aka what Republican Senators supporting trump call, “Impeachment whaaaaa???”