{"id":16622,"date":"2012-05-03T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/percentage-of-swing-voters-declines-compared-to-four-years-ago\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:42:34","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:42:34","slug":"percentage-of-swing-voters-declines-compared-to-four-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2012\/05\/03\/percentage-of-swing-voters-declines-compared-to-four-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Percentage of Swing Voters Declines Compared to Four Years Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About a quarter (23%) of registered voters identify themselves as swing voters, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted April 4-15. A swing voter is someone who is undecided, orleans to or favors a candidate but says there is still a chance he or she will change their mind.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is a significantly smaller swing vote than was the case at the end of the primary season four years ago. In June 2008, 33% of all registered voters, and fully 46% of independent voters, remained uncommitted. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Past surveys show this is not uncommon when an incumbent is up for reelection and voters feel they have a clearer sense of the options before them. In June 2004, just 21% of registered voters were swing voters, including only 28% of independents.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many independents have yet to commit to either Obama or Romney. While 90% of independents express a preference, only 66% say they are certain about how they will vote. <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2012\/04\/17\/with-voters-focused-on-economy-obama-lead-narrows\/?src-prc-number\">Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About one-in-four (23%) of registered voters today are swing voters, compared to 33% in 2008.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"apple_news_api_pending":"1713064019","relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[],"bylines":[791],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-16622","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","bylines-pew-research-center-staff","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states"],"label":"Short 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