USAToday Interviews Claritas Derived Swing Voters On Presidential Campaigns

Looking at the 'Persuadables'

In interviews in the small cities of Wisconsin's Fox River Valley, swing voters like Schley and Henslin say they're skeptical about Bush's decisions on the economy and Iraq. They aren't sure how much power any president has to shape events, especially in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks that continue to affect their views. Some wonder whether the United States should have invaded Iraq. Almost all of them would like to see a new approach to creating jobs. But they don't know yet whether Democrats would do better on handling the economy or making the nation safe.

USA TODAY has developed a tool to analyze the American political landscape, using a combination of national marketing research and its own polls of thousands of people. For this story, we used the new tool to identify swing voters in the middle of the political spectrum, and to create a rich portrait of them.

There are more than 8 million American households in this group, located in smaller cities such as Oshkosh and Appleton, Wis.; densely populated suburbs such as Reston, Va., near Washington, D.C.; and distinctive neighborhoods within larger cities, such as Mount Healthy in Cincinnati.

They are middle-class -- their median income in 2000 was $46,631 -- and home-centered. They have time and enthusiasm for hobbies and recreation, from reading and gardening to bowling and other sports. Some are political independents; others are inclined to vote Republican or Democratic. But they don't have strong ties to any party.

While there was a range of opinions about the war, there was unanimity about the economy: It's been bad, and even those who like Bush say his tax cuts aren't the way to fix it. The benefits have gone mostly to the wealthy, they say, and aren't producing jobs.

Methodolgy.