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The indecision weighs so heavily on Mike Hoekstra’s mind that he sometimes can’t sleep at night.
Jacques Lemoyne is “simply not happy” with his options.
And Kathryn Berrisford “can’t find a clear path on who feels good at this point.”
With less than a month before Election Day, this trio is among a group of voters across the country who remain undecided in their pick for president. Dissatisfied for many reasons ranging from lack of clear policies and potential threats to democracy to their personalities, these voters say they aren’t content with either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris.
Undecided voters make up a small fraction of the overall electorate ‒ between 2% and 5%, depending on the poll. But in what may be the closest presidential race ever, they could be the deciding factor.
And the question remains, after the longest campaign in history, with one former president and an incumbent vice president on the ballot: How could anybody still be undecided?
“They are not enthralled with either candidate,” said David Paleologos, a pollster who directs Suffolk University’s Political Research Center and conducts many of USA TODAY’s polling. “That’s the intriguing part about this stretch, these are the people who are marked for wasting their vote, who are least connected to the two-party system of politics. But, they could have the greatest impact on this election if they go one way or the other.”
What will make up their minds
In August, a USA TODAY/Suffolk University national poll of likely voters asked third-party and undecided voters what kept them from supporting Trump or Harris. About 8% were still either undecided or selecting third-party candidates as both their first and second choice. That was nearly twice as large as the poll’s margin separating Harris and Trump.
The undecided voters USA TODAY recently spoke to include a range of third-party and independent voters who either were previously polled or supported candidates including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has dropped out of the race. Some respondents have previously toed major party lines and voted either for Trump, President Joe Biden, or both in the last two elections, but aren’t comfortable sticking with either party again.
Some say their uncertainty at this late stage stuns even them.
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“I’m kind of numb more than surprised,” said Lemoyne, 69, a golf club maker in Erie, Pennsylvania, a battleground state that could determine the presidency. “At this point, I’m such a reluctant voter.”
Hoekstra, 54, of Crete, Illinois, said he was “heartbroken, devastated and betrayed” when Kennedy suspended his campaign in late August and backed Trump. Kennedy said his name would remain on the ballot in non-battleground states, like Illinois, and encouraged voters to still vote for him to suppress support for Harris. Hoekstra was phone banking for Kennedy at the time.
A married father of six adult children and a retired Navy reservist, Hoekstra said he’s still slightly leaning toward voting for Kennedy but also considering Chase Oliver, the Libertarian Party candidate.
Hoekstra won’t even consider Trump unless he publicly admits his faults in the first term, including his early handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, his role in the country’s current economy, and his contribution to the Jan. 6 insurrection ‒ all of which Hoekstra knows is unlikely.
“I’m so unsure,” Hoekstra said. “If he came out and sounded genuine about the mistakes he made as president, I could, maybe consider him.”
Hoekstra said Harris is an absolute nonstarter. “I don’t like how she came about to be the Democratic candidate by not going through the primary process. That’s not very democratic in my eyes,” Hoekstra said referring to Harris’ rise after Biden withdrew from the race. “Now, I’m here in this protest stance trying to figure it out.”
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‘Tired of voting from a fear-based place’
Berrisford, 31, an esthetician in Kapaʻa, Hawaii, and lifelong Democrat, also disliked the way Harris became her former party’s choice.
“It feels like at the moment there isn’t a choice that I would feel good about,” said Berrisford who voted for Biden in 2020. “But looking back now, I’m tired of voting from a fear-based place. I think a lot of us are being told to vote for the lesser evil when all we really want is a good candidate.”
Trump doesn’t even factor into Berrisford’s voting equation. “He really doesn’t sit right with me, especially as a woman. Look at what he’s been saying since he first ran in 2016,” Berrisford said. “And now our reproductive rights are in danger. It’s a scary time for us right now.”
The fear for all voters, but especially for the undecided, is real, agreed Ronald Levant, a psychologist and emeritus professor at the University of Akron, who wrote the book, “The Psychology of Men and Masculinity.”
“They are confronting making a difficult choice unlike the average voter in a very compressed period of time,” Levant said. “It’s unique that they come from all sides of the political spectrum as they maybe looking a bit more inward than outward.”
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Older undecided voters in battleground states
Two months ago, some undecided voters polled by USA TODAY said they hesitated to support Harris in part because they didn’t know enough about her, and those same voters steered clear of Trump because they knew too much about him.
Now with weeks left before Nov. 5, some still feel the same way.
“I really don’t know what Harris’ policies are and the thing with flipping on fracking and the medical issues, she hasn’t stated anything to me that I can grasp on,” Lemoyne said. “I don’t know if she has any backbone to stick to what she says.”
Like Berrisford, Lemoyne didn’t appreciate how Harris was catapulted to become the Democratic presidential nominee, referring to the vice president as a “Supercandidate.” And Lemoyne thinks that if Trump wins again, he won’t serve a full second term in office due to his age (78) or his dozens of felony convictions.
“Frankly, I think both parties could’ve done a better job of getting someone else in those positions,” Lemoyne said on issues such as improving the economy, Israel’s escalating conflict with Iran, and climate change. “Both candidates are not concrete on what they are going to do and how they will do it.”
Undecided voter John Whitehead, 76 of Pittsburgh, shares a similar perspective. Whitehead voted for Trump in 2016 but picked Biden in 2020. Whitehead said he will not be voting for Trump next month.
“I like his toughness, but I don’t like his ignorance. He is what he is, but the way he treats women and his disrespect for the military (are disqualifying),” Whitehead said. “I also think he’s a racist, plain and simple and that’s a big, big thing for me right now.”
But Whitehead, a “semi-retired electrician” and a registered Democrat with two adult children, isn’t too keen on Harris, citing a lack of knowledge about her and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Cynthia Terek, 67, of Detroit, said she’s well aware of the stakes in her battleground state of Michigan. She voted for Trump in 2020, but blames him, the Republicans, and the Democrats for the current state of America’s economy. She thinks Trump can improve it better than Harris can.
Paleologos said some older undecided voters see Trump’s record as superior to Harris, but also see Trump’s rhetoric as “more toxic.”
Terek agrees. “My biggest problem with Trump is he won’t stop talking. Don’t open your mouth sometimes,” Terek said. “But it’s Trump. He won’t shut up.”
Patriotic duty will drive them to vote
Despite her differences with both candidates, Terek, who met her late-husband while they both served in the Air Force four decades ago, said she will cast a ballot for president. She’s just not sure for whom.
“Oh, yes, I absolutely plan to vote. In person, too,” said Terek, a mother of two and grandmother of two. “I don’t know where I’m going to place my ‘X’ at the moment.”
As a veteran, Hoekstra also believes it’s his patriotic duty to make a presidential pick on Election Day.
“Despite my feelings, I’ll crawl there to vote if I have to,” Hoekstra said. “I respect those who fought and died to preserve this democracy and the freedom to vote. I won’t dishonor this sacrifice.
“Even if it’s at the last minute,” Hoekstra said. “I will vote, for someone.”
