In Vermont: Summer Motivated

At the Burlington Free Press, a question lingers: is anyone paying attention?
A recent article, Political season collides with vacation season in Vermont, trolls out the concern that Vermonters lucky enough to take summer vacations may be unable to simultaneously pay attention to the August 24th primary and recreational activities. This part of the argument is built around some political observers, who are Chris Graff and just one disenchanted fellow who says “I feel like my vote doesn’t count anyway,” he said. “I don’t think many people are comfortable with government at all.”


However, all other remarks about the primary quoted in the article show that people are paying attention, as shown here in several Vermonter’s statements: “ it [the primary] was well-known” … “I’ve heard more politics at this stage of the game than I ever have,” … “glad to see candidates circulating at the Field Days”… “started paying attention to the campaign as soon as Douglas announced he wouldn’t run for re-election”…“I think it’s going to be a fun election,”

Longtime Vermont political observer Chris Graff ruminates that there is no sense of a horse race and [the] juices aren’t motivated. Too many candidates to focus on, he says, but he does predict electricity in the air for the general election.

Graff, who noted the rarity of a five-way race in Vermont elections, said having that many candidates — though it means almost anything could happen in terms of outcome — could keep turnout down because it’s harder for voters to focus on the field. “There’s no real sense of a horse race,” he said. “The horse race is what gets the juices motivated.”
All of that will change, he speculated, when it comes to the general election. “There will be tremendous interest. I think there will be electricity in the air,” he said.

Contrary to this, the article shows Vermont primary voters at many public events this summer are showing engagement and some enthusiasm for the coming primary, evidenced by the article’s quotes. Yet the conclusion seems to be that because it isn’t a horse race and it’s hard to focus on all those candidates no one is paying attention.

But horse races do have multiple contestants, so Graff may be confusing a horse race with a boxing match. A boxing match with just two competitors might be the proper sized field of focus he claims voters need for their limited concentration. Also it’s simpler to report on two rather then five.

So take it on faith from experts that Vermont primary voters faced with sky high unemployment ,worsening state budget problems , health care at a crossroads and the first real chance in eight years that democrats might take control of the state house might still find it hard to focus on more than one thing. Even though in terms of outcome anything could happen.