LAS CRUCES -- Lauren Powder says she still hasn't made up her mind about which presidential candidate to support Nov. 2.
"It's a very hard decision," says Powder, a Southern New Mexico schoolteacher. She said education and the future of the war in Iraq are the topics that worry her the most.
Normally, Powder's dilemma wouldn't matter this late in the campaign. But this undecided voter happens to live in a battleground state, where the latest polls show President Bush and Sen. John Kerry running neck and neck. More importantly, New Mexico is one of only about 12 states still up for grabs in next week's election.
So it's little wonder that campaign activists and members of other groups are besieging voters like Powder with personal visits, phone calls and leaflets. All are desperate to sway her opinion.
But the pool of such voters is dwindling fast. A USA Today-CNN-Gallup Poll conducted Oct. 14-16 showed 89 percent of likely voters nationwide were "certain" they would vote for Bush or Kerry, leaving 11 percent uncommitted.
A similar USA Today-CNN-Gallup Poll released Monday that used different methodology found only 2 percent of likely voters were undecided. Both polls' margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Most political experts say voters who are still undecided at this late stage usually vote against the incumbent, if they vote at all. That would spell trouble for Bush.
But this year may be different, suggests Matt Streb, a political science professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
"Undecided voters at this point are probably not happy with Bush, but are still not sold on Kerry," Streb said.
Reaching such voters isn't easy, experts say. They say undecided voters tend not to read newspapers, watch television news or pay any attention to politics until the final week of a presidential election. Most don't vote.
"These people are largely disengaged from the political process," said Charlie Cook, editor and publisher of the Cook Political Report. "These people are worried about their kids getting their homework done, and they've got very full lives. Politics just doesn't intrude upon their lives until the last week or two before the election."
