Right Change: Large Number of Eligible Voters Unlikely to Participate in November

Back in 2008, Barack Obama won the White House on a groundswell of emotion from voters all across the nation. His message of “Hope and Change” resounded with many people who were sick of politics as usual. These people got out and voiced their opinion at the polls and carried Obama to the presidency. That emotion is long gone according to a recent poll conducted by Suffolk University, which states 40% of registered voters are not planning to vote in this year’s presidential election.

While that number may be alarming, it is extremely damaging to President Obama’s re-election hopes. In addition, when asked whom they were likely to vote for if they did participate, poll respondents answered 2 to 1 in favor of Obama. David Paleologos, the director of Suffolk’s Political Research Center, explains how these numbers are affecting the Obama campaign.

“Obama is looking at the polls and saying, ‘I don’t have enough support among the likely voter pie, so I may need a slice of the unlikely voter pie to win.This poll is a good-news bad news story for Barack Obama. The good news is that there is a treasure chest of voters he doesn’t even have to persuade – they already like him and dislike Mitt Romney. He just needs to unlock the chest and get them out to vote. The bad news is that these people won’t vote because they feel beaten down by empty promises, a bad economy and the negativity of both parties. Obama has lost time – and the key – to open that treasure chest.”

With approximately two and a half months remaining in the campaign, why has Obama run out of time to reach these disenchanted voters? Paleologos pointed out that his pollsters needed two weeks and made thousands of calls to find unlikely voters willing to be surveyed, meaning it might be just as tough for the two campaigns. “Good luck to either camp to find these people and get them to vote,” he said.

Polls like these have taken both the Obama and Romney staffs down a new road demanding they spend valuable time and resources on grass roots “get out the vote” campaigns. Will the election come down to these voters who are choosing in fact not to vote? Will either candidate have any luck in getting these apathetic Americans to officially voice their opinion? President Obama’s re-election hopes may live and die with this coveted 40%.

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