INDIANAPOLIS -- Candidates in hotly contested races across the state of Indiana are entering the final 60 days of their campaign.
Although Labor Day once traditionally kicked off the campaign season, in many ways it now marks the final stretch before Election Day.
The candidates for Governor have been pounding the pavement, meeting voters.
An expert on state politics says their goal now is to activate supports, and actually get them out to the polls on Election Day.
But that doesn’t mean that the campaigning is done. Public appearances and ads will continue as the day draws closer, in hopes of swaying a few extra votes.
You’ve probably seen the ads – but Andy Downs, director of Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics says you can expect the television spots blanketing the airwaves, including the negative ones in both races for Governor and U.S. Senate to ramp up as November draws near.
But all of the voters we spoke with on Monument Circle say their minds are already made up
“I don’t really put a whole lot of weight into what ads or people campaigning have to say,” said voter Laura Cisler, “I feel like most of that is just advertising and they’ll just say whatever they can to get you to vote for the correct candidate.”
“All of the negative ads don’t make a difference,” said Grant Mongin, “because the policies that each candidate supports are more important than their person, you know, like who they are.”
The two major party candidates in the race for Governor met with voters on Labor Day, Democrat John Gregg walked in the Boonville Labor Day parade and Republican Lieutenant Governor Eric Holcolmb met with voters at the Blueberry Festival in Marshall County.
Downs says you can expect more of these types of events as the candidates work to become more present and visible in these final sixty days. He says their focus is now on activating voters and getting them to the polls, especially with early voting starting in just over a month, “While they still have the goal of getting the most votes on Election Day. Election Day really runs 29 days now. So you can’t wait until the first Monday in November, you’ve got to be thinking about that a month before about turning out the vote.”
Downs says the earlier the candidates can rally their base, the sooner they can start trying to convince undecided voters to support them.
