Why Undecided Voters Are the Most Interesting in 2020

One product of the current and seemingly endless political discourse is that there are daily updates published or broadcast about how Americans feel regarding political topics. While these polls often follow the political leanings of the citizen, they occasionally provide some guidance as to how the country is leaning one way or another.History shows that when push comes to shove, American voters very often vote with their pocketbook. Personal economic conditions color perceptions and direct voting decisions, which is why Presidential candidates speak so much about how their policies will benefit the American household. The high interest in politics in 2020 prompted Spectrem Group to initiate its own research into the minds of affluent and wealthy Americans in its Tracking the 2020 Election report. On a monthly basis, investors are surveyed about their opinions regarding the hot political topics that will remain top of mind until November of 2020 when a new president and Congress are elected.Starting with the Presidential election, as of late December 2019, 41 percent of affluent investors (with a net worth of at least $100,000, not including the value of their primary residence) said they would vote for whomever the Democrats put forth as their candidate, while 34 percent said they would vote for President Trump. Twenty-three percent claim to yet by undecided on that issue with 10 months remaining in the election campaign process.Those undecided voters are the ones who are the most interesting, because the question is raised what will cause them to eventually go one direction or the other.In Tracking the 2020 Election , 34 percent of undecided voters stated they would never vote for President Trump, but are turned off by the most progressive and liberal candidates who are chasing the Democratic nomination, like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. A similar percentage (32 percent) state that they do not like President Trump on a personal level but support his policies.Perhaps the most forceful opinion of the undecided affluent investors are the 19 percent who say if they do not like the eventual Democratic nominee, they will vote for President Trump. There was also 10 percent of investors who said if they do not like the Democratic nominee, they will just not vote rather than vote for President Trump.Among all investors, the hottest of the hot topics being argued by political candidates is the cost of prescription drugs and medical services. Finding solutions for reducing prescription drug prices was rated at 82.94 on a 100-pont scale of interest by all investors, and transparency in medical service pricing was rated at 82.14.Other topics that reached over the 75.00 mark among all investors was a comprehensive immigration policy (75.13), and the passage of the USMCA, the new policy replacing NAFTA (75.10). A finalized trade agreement with China just barely missed the 75-point mark at 74.48.Spectrem will be releasing new data on a monthly basis comparing results from the Tracking the 2020 Election survey to see how investor sentiment changes as the election date gets closer.