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If you’re an undecided voter in today’s political climate, do not take personally the less-than-flattering labels—lazy, indecisive or frustrating—that partisan voters use.

Instead, as a University of Michigan expert says, you simply have struggled with selecting a presidential candidate whose policies neatly align with your beliefs.

“Their indecision is different than selecting between two options which appear like they could be equally good. Rather, it is an indecision about which discomfort you are most willing to deal with,” said Yanna Krupnikov, U-M professor of communication and media, and a faculty associate at the Center for Political Studies at the Institute for Social Research.

Krupnikov is the author, along with U-M political expert John Barry Ryan, of “The Other Divide: Polarization and Disengagement in American Politics.” The book examines how the chasm between the deeply involved and the less involved shapes politics in America.

Discuss the divide between those who regularly follow politics and those who are disengaged.

Some people are super engaged in politics. They are constantly following the news throughout the day. Some people are completely disengaged. They might be avoiding the news. They might be completely avoiding everything related to this election.

But I think the bulk of people are actually in the middle. They are sometimes following the news. They might check in on the news, but they’re not checking in hourly. They’re not constantly updating themselves to see what is happening in a close presidential election. I think it’s these people in the middle who are essentially most important. People who are checking in, but not constantly looking at the news, might be the most important group for candidates to reach.

The point is that people who are most regularly following the news already know how they’re going to vote. They’re super polarized. They are like the people who are vocal about politics online.

But is the country polarized?

When we think of polarization, when we think of partisanship, we think of the angriest partisans we know. This is because the most polarized people are most likely to talk about politics and to share their opinions and they are most likely to talk about politics on social media. And so our perceptions that everything is polarized are shaped by these pictures in our heads of the person who is most constantly talking about politics, who happens to be the person who is often the most polarized.

Where do these individuals get their political information?

When we think of where people get their information, this is where we see evidence of this attention divide. People who are paying tremendous attention are information gathering throughout the day. They might be on specialized news websites. They might be on social media. They’re talking to other people about politics. So information is coming to them almost constantly.

When we think of other people, those who are less engaged but still paying some attention, they might be checking in with the local or nightly news, or once a day with a newspaper. They are certainly getting information about the campaign. It’s just not the constant updates.

Would something major in the news sway them one way or the other to a candidate?

In theory, these people who are technically less attentive, who are checking in—but not constantly—might be more likely to be affected by something happening in the news. Now, could it change their mind about which candidate they’re going to vote for? That’s a difficult question, but it could change their mind about whether they’re willing to vote. They might still support one candidate over the other, but they might be less willing to put in the effort of turning out.

Describe the undecided voter.

First, I want to distinguish between people who aren’t paying constant, tremendous attention to politics and people who are undecided. You don’t have to pay attention to the news on an hourly basis to prefer one candidate. So who is undecided is a really separate question. Oftentimes, indecision may not be about which candidate you support, but it’s really about whether you are willing to put in the effort to turn out to vote in person at the polls or by absentee ballot.

Contact: Jared Wadley