Best of a Bad Bargain

Slowly, resentfully, the "undecideds"make up their minds

As Election Day approaches, millions of Americans are still struggling to decide which of the three major candidates is the least objectionable and hence should get their reluctant vote. TIME National Political Correspondent John Stacks sought out more than a dozen people in the key state of Pennsylvania, all previously identified by a Yankelovich poll in late August as being "undecided," and asked them to describe how they were coming along in making up their minds. His report:

Harry McKee is a sales manager for Westinghouse who lives in a comfortable suburb of Pittsburgh. Considering himself to be a moderate Republican, he voted for George Bush in the Republican primary this year and for Jerry Ford in the 1976 election. But he was not distressed by Carter's victory then. Says he: "I kind of liked Carter's maverick approach. He sounded so sincere."

He feels different now, and his voice rises slightly as he denounces the President: "I just get a feeling of incompetence from him and his people. Take the U.N. vote [opposing Israel's settlements, for which Carter later apologized]. It made America look so foolish. I feel we're just muddling along." But he is also troubled by Reagan. "I don't get the feel ing that Reagan is a real intelligent man, and that worries me."

For a time, McKee's solution was John Anderson. "I have admiration for him. He's the best candidate. He's refreshing and outspoken." Like others who have drifted away from Anderson, however, McKee is afraid that the independent cannot win. Says he: "If I was in a vacuum, if I didn't know about the polls, I'd go ahead and vote for him. But I feel so strongly that I want to lock Carter out, that if I have to vote for Reagan, that's what I'll do. But I'm still basically undecided. I feel I have worse choices this year than ever before."

Pat Murrin, a truck driver who has been without steady work for nearly a year, lives near McKee. Despite his job problems, he is sticking with Carter "even though he loused up the economy." Says Murrin: "I think the presidency is overrated. It's like a quarterback who gets all the glory but without the rest of the team he can't do it.&"

John and Martha Hook live 29 miles north of Pittsburgh in the small indus trial town of Butler, where he works as a radio station engineer. They have been registered Democrats all their lives and both voted for Carter in 1976 because, in John's words, "Ford pardoned Nixon." But they feel let down by the President. Says Martha: "It takes every penny we have for food and the doctor." The hostage issue rankles with John: "Carter should have had them out of there right away." And Carter has compounded his problem with the Hooks by his campaign tactics. Says Martha: "It's bad when you have to get ahead by criticizing the other candidates." Echoes her husband: "We all know how bad things are in the country. We need to know what they're going to do about it."

But for the Hooks, Reagan is not acceptable. Says John: "I'm afraid he'll get us into a hell of a war. At least with Carter, we're living -- not too good, but we're living." Resignedly, they will probably stick with the President.

Says Martha: "I guess we'll try to vote for the one who'll do the least damage to the country. I'm afraid of Reagan."

Andrew and Karen Sefcik are living in a trailer park and trying desperately to create some financial stability for themselves. Andrew has been out of work for more than a year, but has just started training, under a federal grant, as a nurse.

He considered Anderson briefly, but concludes: "I'm for Reagan because he's not Carter. With Carter's record, it's amazing he's even a viable candidate. The only reason people will vote for Carter is that they know what they're in for and they can predict what he can and can't do." Even with his mind made up for Reagan, Andy Sefcik isn't happy. Says he: "I worry that Reagan puts his mouth in gear before his brain is running. And that bothers me in a delicate foreign situation." What Andy would like is some way to protest the choices. After the candidates' names on the ballot, he'd like a "no preference" line to show his despair about the choices. Says he: "What we need now is a President. What we really need is a leader."

Like their counterparts in western Pennsylvania, Philadelphians were deciding mostly for Reagan and Carter and dismissing Anderson because he can't win. But they were choosing not out of enthusiasm, but on the basis of negative feelings. Arnold Chessler, a 48-year-old manufacturer of women's accessories in Philadelphia, voted for Carter in 1976, but concludes that the past four years "have been really depressing." Despite grave reservations, he will back Reagan because "it can't get any worse."

Sam Segal, a jewelry salesman, voted for Carter "to get the Watergate crowd out of there." But he was distressed by the U.N. vote. "A President doesn't make a mistake like that," he says. He is leaning toward Reagan because "Carter can't make a decisive decision." But some voters are too fed up with Carter and Reagan to back either. Thomas Haughton, who works for the Internal Revenue Service in Philadelphia, has ten children from two marriages. In 1976 he voted for Carter because "I thought he was a dream, like the Kennedy dream."

Now he will vote for Anderson. Says Haughton: "They say about him being a spoiler. He could win. He could make Reagan lose. He could make Carter lose. It could go to the House of Representatives. It's all right with me. It's getting so that since Truman these Presidents don't do a damn thing. Maybe there's nothing can be done. I always believed in the American dream. But it's not happening. I don't think the President controls the country. On that Iran raid, I could have got a gang here in South Philadelphia and done better than that."

Mark Blank, a retired professor of philosophy now living in the Philadelphia suburb of Jenkintown, has already cast an absentee ballot since he is planning a trip to Europe. A liberal Democrat all his life, Blank voted for Anderson. He has only disdain for Carter: "The fact that by comparison Jerry Ford has been elevated to the rank of elder statesman is sufficient reason to vote against Carter." Of Reagan, Blank says: "His economics are incomprehensible. I am a hostage to the future in the person of my grandson, and Reagan's urgings that we be No.l in arms means only an accelerated arms race. He's shallow, superficial, and frightening in that respect."

His vote for Anderson, says Blank, "is essentially a rebuke to the two parties." Still, he is troubled. He fears that votes for Anderson will elect Reagan. Says Blank: "I guess I'm counting on the fact that the Government will be too paralyzed to be dangerous under Reagan. I think it's horrible that we're put in the position that whatever we do we feel we're making the wrong decision."

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