Who are the Swing Voters?

Generally, more Democrats are swing voters than Republicans. Areas like the "Rust Belt" including the rural parts of states like Ohio and Pennsylvania hold large numbers of Democratic swing voters.

Former president Ronald Reagan was able to swing these voters over to his column and they have since been known as Reagan Democrats.

However, there are also Republican swing voters. President Barack Obama was especially gifted at attracting such votes. Probably the most noteworthy Republican swing voters for Obama was former secretary of state Gen. Colin Powell.

Of course, many voters who decline to state their party preference and many of those who are registered with independent parties can also be considered swing voters.

Early polls do not tell us much about swing voters because they really start looking at the issues closely late in the race.

Jobs and the economy will undoubtedly be a very important issues because many swing voters are located in rural areas that often depend on a very limited number of job providers.

Other swing voters tend to be young as they are still making up their minds on who has the best approach. However, more young voters these days lean toward a progressive ideology and, for this reason, the Democrats have been go going full force registering young voters.

Here in California, the deadline for registering new voters is Oct. 18.