Do endorsements matter?

[x-g.o.p.er]

Do they? Does it matter to an undecided voter who Sneator X endorses, or newspaper Y, or union Z?

I've been undecided on candidates before, and no endorsement from a newspaper, union, or another politician was a deciding factor in who I ultimately supported.

Does/did it matter for you guys? Just wanting to know.

[rasputin1952]

1. The one thing that an endorsement can do, especially in a

newspaper or such, is that the endorser "usually" writes about why they endorse the candidate. It is more powerful that spoken words that just go out into the ether, as one can easily digest what has been written, and can take the time to analyze why they endorser is willing to support a candidate.

In years past, this was very important, as people were not privy to the whims of electronic media...but the same electronic media rarely analyzes candidates, it merely rates them and puts out what the scandal of the day is as opposed to anything resembling a well thought out position.

In a nutshell, these days, an endorsement is only effective if one is prone to vote for the candidate being endorsed.