Procrastination is usually frowned upon. But in a narrowly divided presidential election, voters who have put off making a decision until the last minute could find themselves with the power to decide the future of the country.
Both candidates and their outside allies have spent millions of dollars trying to find and reach the relative handful of dawdlers, late deciders and genuinely torn voters who are still unsure about how (or whether) to cast their ballots — precious needles in the gargantuan haystack of the American electorate who often have little interest in being found by political campaigns and have major problems with one or both major parties.
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The ranks of the stragglers are dwindling quickly. In NBC News' early October national survey, just 4% of registered voters said they didn't want to make a choice between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. When NBC News contacted 40 of those again this week, 17 agreed to interviews and just five said they were still making up their minds.
Of the ones who have decided since surveyed three weeks ago, seven said they are voting for a third-party candidate or plan to write in another name. Two declined to share whom they plan to vote for. One said they plan to vote for Trump, another that they are likely to vote for Harris, and another plans to not vote at all.
Late-deciding voters broke for Trump in 2020 and 2016, with some analysts and strategists in both campaigns crediting them for electing Trump eight years ago.
How anyone could still be undecided a week out from a critical election can be difficult to fathom for supporters of either Trump or Harris. But these late deciders have their reasons for dragging their feet.
Most are unhappy with their options on the ballot and the state of the country more generally. They feel conflicted, especially about Trump, with cross-pressures on different policies and their impressions of the candidates pulling them in opposite directions. Many pay little attention to politics and say they haven't had time to do their research and reflection. And some say they wait until they are in their voting precinct to decide.
Here's what these voters had to say about how they plan to make their decisions →
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