Romney Ryan 2012

They could turn a too-close-to-call race into a landslide for President Obama— but by definition they probably won't.

Call them the unlikely voters.

A nationwide USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll of people who are eligible to vote but aren't likely to do so finds that these stay-at-home Americans back Obama's re-election over Republican Mitt Romney by more than 2-1. Two-thirds of them say they are registered to vote. Eight in 10 say the government plays an important role in their lives.


Even so, they cite a range of reasons for declaring they won't vote or saying the odds are no better than 50-50 that they will: They're too busy. They aren't excited about either candidate. Their vote doesn't really matter. And nothing ever gets done, anyway.

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Road Warrior said:

This election may be won or lost by the number of voters who stay home. About 90 million of them according to this article:

USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll: Stay-at-home Americans disgusted.


Factor in that a full third of the voters are Independents and moderates who aren't very happy with the amount of do-nothing extremism in Washington, and the election could be won or lost by whoever garners the most votes from them. Obviously both Obama and Romney are likely to carry their own base, but, especially in Obama's case, their base may be so unexcited about the candidates, they might stay home in droves.

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