One of the cooler polls out there is the CBS News monthly survey of a panel of undecided voters -- the same panel of undecided voters are surveyed each month. The data tells us why folks decide and when they decide and who they decide to support.
So far, about a third of the panel has made up their minds -- 20% for McCain and 14% for Obama. In the past month, the McCain-Obama split was roughly 60/40. The rest are still mulling their options.
The voters who decided recently view Gov. Palin more favorably than Sen. Biden by about 20 points -- and they seem to feel as if they know her a lot better than they know Biden. Among the currently undecided voters, Obama is doing better -- 72% say they can relate to him, about twice the number who say they can relate to McCain. But a full 82% of these voters think McCain is prepared to be president; just 31% think Obama is. Here's what CBS News says about the demographics:
Voters who remain uncommitted are more likely to be women (55%). 46% describe themselves as independents. 48% say they are moderates. 53% are age 45 or older. Some of these voters support one of the candidates, but their support is not yet firm.
| 
