swing voter
Origin: 1964
In the eighteenth century, at election time, political parties began asking us to vote for their Ticket (1756). In the nineteenth century, some of us were inclined to look across party lines and vote a "split ticket" (1836), though others stayed faithful to the "straight ticket" (1856). In the twentieth century, fickleness in the electorate grew to a point where we needed a new term: swing voter.
The term seems to have been first recorded during the 1964 presidential campaign pitting Lyndon Johnson, the incumbent and a liberal Democrat, against his conservative Republican challenger, Barry Goldwater. "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice," Goldwater told the Republican convention in his acceptance speech. "Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." Large numbers of voters with moderate political views disagreed, and many Republicans became swing voters, helping Johnson to an overwhelming victory.
The use of swing voter in 1964 may have been influenced by another new meaning of swing that was first attested that year. To swing was "to swap sexual partners," and swingers were those who did it. "As Gilbert Bartell discovered, getting started in swinging is easy," explained Time magazine a few years later. "All that is required is a copy of Kindred Spirits, Ecstasy, Swingers' Life, or any one of 50 scruffy magazines filled with ads and advice on 'The Etiquette of Swinging' and 'How to Organize an Enjoyable Swinging Party.'" Perhaps there was a hint of sexiness in being a swing voter, even if not a swinging one.
Nowadays, political strategists carefully calculate the critical constituencies upon whom to concentrate. Swing voters, those who are sitting on the fence waiting to be persuaded, are particularly promising targets. Presidential candidates also concentrate on uncommitted swing states ready to swing to either side.
