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The last undecided voters could influence the election. They are not enthusiastic about the choice.

The last undecided voters could influence the election. They are not enthusiastic about the choice.

Delay is usually frowned upon, but in a narrowly divided presidential election, voters who left a decision until the last minute could have the power to decide the country’s future.

Both campaigns and their outside allies have spent millions of dollars trying to find and reach the relative handful of dawdlers, late movers and truly conflicted voters who are still undecided about how (and whether) to cast their ballots – valuable needles in the gargantuan Haystacks from the American electorate, which often has little interest in being found by political campaigns and has major problems with one or both major parties.

The number of latecomers is shrinking rapidly. In NBC News’ national poll in early October, just 4% of registered voters said they didn’t want to choose between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. When NBC News contacted 40 of them again this week, 17 agreed to interviews and only five said they were still in the decision-making process.

Of those who have made up their minds since being surveyed three weeks ago, seven said they are voting for a third-party candidate or plan to write under a different name. Two declined to say who they plan to vote for. One said they plan to vote for Trump, another said they will probably vote for Harris, and another plans not to vote at all.

In 2020 and 2016, late-decider voters went for Trump, with some analysts and strategists in both campaigns crediting late-deciders with voting for Trump eight years ago.

It’s hard for Trump or Harris supporters to imagine that anyone could still be undecided a week before a crucial election. But these late decision makers have their reasons for making such slow progress.

Most are dissatisfied with their choices and the state of the country in general. They feel conflicted, particularly about Trump, as mutual pressure for different policies and their impressions of the candidates pull them in opposite directions. Many pay little attention to politics and say they have had no time for research and reflection. And some say they will wait until they get to their constituency to make a decision.

Here’s what they told NBC News about how they plan to make their decisions.

Who is still undecided?

Some undecided voters said they needed to learn more about the candidates’ policies.

Eric Bush, a systems administrator from Florida, said he was waiting until he was in the voting booth to make his final decision. Although he didn’t vote in 2020, he said he would vote this year.

“I am extremely fiscally conservative,” Bush said, citing his focus on taxes. “But socially I’m extremely liberal. But at the same time, I don’t believe in making laws to enforce my beliefs or my positions.”

Another Connecticut voter also said he needed to do more research. But he said his main focus is on the economy, not social issues.

“I don’t really care what people do about social issues like abortion and marijuana, they just go along with it,” said the voter, who declined to give his name. He said he wanted to focus on “understanding the policy, not the person.”

More than one undecided voter had an unwelcome message for the Trump and Harris campaigns: There’s not much the candidates can do to sway them.

“There’s nothing they could say to get me on their team,” said Deshaun Hall, a 38-year-old, self-described “African-American” poet from Pennsylvania.

“When I come into the locker room, it’s more about the question: Am I going down a path that can help me more financially?” Or am I going to help other people more financially? That would be my decision at the moment,” he added.

Hall is drawn to Republican principles of small government and could potentially support Trump. He believes a vote for Trump could help him financially. But he is still considering supporting Harris and acknowledges that a vote for Harris could lead to larger government policies that could help others.

“I never heard her say anything on TV that seemed crazy,” Hall said. “But the side effect of that is that you don’t feel like you know who she is.”

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While some voters are still undecided, others have made their decision in recent weeks.

One man, a federal employee who declined to give his name, said he was almost certain he would vote for Harris. He said he was “tired of partisan politics” and was less enthusiastic about the Trump campaign’s message because the former president was not focused on unity.

“We are a very diverse nation. We have many ideas. We have a lot of people here and I fundamentally believe that all of those voices have a place at the table and need to be taken into account,” he said. “Majority rule is not always the wisest choice when it comes to making good decisions, and so I’m really looking for a candidate who is able to work constructively, across the aisle, so to speak.”

On the other side is Helen Peppas, a 74-year-old Republican from Idaho who said she struggled for weeks over whether or not to vote for her party’s candidate. “God helped me make this decision,” she said. She ultimately supported Trump despite concerns about his actions after the 2020 election, describing him as a “spoiled little brat.”

“I don’t like the man, but I feel like he’s done more for us when he was there before,” she said. “So I pray that he has a better mindset and doesn’t act as stupid as before.”

Another voter, who did not want to give his name or share his voting decision, said his decision would depend on which candidate could make the most difference.

He said Harris had difficulty pinpointing anything she would have done differently than Biden, which made him “incredibly concerned.”

“Trump says, ‘I’m going to do the same thing I did when I was in office.’ Kamala says, ‘I’m going to do the exact same thing Biden did,'” the voter said, later adding, “That’s the worst.” The last thing I want to hear is more of the same over the last eight years .”

Door #3: Neither Harris nor Trump

Other late-deciding voters said they never chose Trump or Harris for a simple reason: They can’t bear to vote for either Trump or Harris, and they plan to support third-party candidates instead, in name to write to someone else or just to stay home.

Rachel Naiziurski, a 37-year-old independent voter from Western New York, said she was voting for Green Party candidate Jill Stein to protest the Biden administration’s support of Israel in the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

“I understand that Trump would be worse domestically for women here and for my personal beliefs here,” she said. “But I can’t get over funding this genocide.” Naiziurski added that she might feel more compelled to support Harris if she lived in a swing state.

An Amarillo, Texas, voter said he plans to vote for Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver, who he believes would be closest to his political goals — even if he doesn’t expect him to win.

The Texan, who declined to be named, said he agreed with Trump on most issues, including support for gun rights, but he felt he couldn’t vote for the former president after he voted for then-Vice President Mike Pence “turned his back” and other Republicans during the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

“I cast my vote for (Oliver) because in good faith I cannot vote for the other two,” he said.

Rob Czaplewski, a 54-year-old Republican from Nebraska, plans to run for president under a different name, likely as former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who endorsed Trump after deeming him unfit for office, when she ran against him in the GOP primary.

“I see a lot of people who I suspect do the exact opposite of me. They try to pick the two lesser evils… But I just don’t feel like I want to pick the two lesser evils,” he said. “I want to pick someone I actually would have voted for, like Nikki Haley or Marco Rubio.”

Czaplewski said he never voted for Trump, described the former president as “unprofessional” and “undiplomatic” and said “his politics seem to be driven by conspiracy theories.” But he also couldn’t support Harris because on policy issues, particularly on social issues and immigration, does not agree with her.

He said there was probably nothing Trump or Harris could say in the final days of the race to change his mind.

“I know I’m throwing it away, throwing my voice away,” Czaplewski said. “But at least I can say I never voted for Trump.”

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