ABC7's focus was on the undecided voters Friday. For many who spoke to ABC7, the performance of incumbent George W. Bush during the past eight years will play a role in how they cast their ballots November 4.
"Right now, I don't feel our country is on such a great track as far as the leadership," said undecided voter Meechi Matzerath.
But Fran Markunas, also an undecided voter from Franklin, Wisconsin, says after talking to her neighbor, she's now convinced the Bush decision to invade Iraq was not a bad idea.
"The fellow that lives across the street is a ranger. and he says the same thing, he says, 'You have no idea how important it is to be over there right now," she said.
ABC7 Chicago conducted an unscientific survey at the Gurnee Mills mall. Most shoppers agreed that the Iraq war was not as big a concern as was the economy.
"Who anticipated that a gallon of gas was gonna be four-and-a-half bucks?" said Gil Stritarm, who was undecided.
The majority of the shoppers agreed that both presidential nominees need to be more specific about how they will fix the economy.
"Right now, the economy is number one and doing things in this country, like, you know, oil, and get going on the offshore (drilling) that we need to do," Markunas said.
"I think about whether or not there's gong to be job security in the future and whether or not there's going to be new diapers, opportunities and technology," said Matzerath.
As one might expect in mall, there were lots of soon-to-be first-time voters. The undecided among them were most specific about what they want from the next president.
"Help with college tuitions, give mroe scholarships out, help fund teenagers, help them go to college," Ben Salazar said.
"We need to find a president that will be able to let us know that we're able to get jobs in the near future and not let us down," said Rory Ramirez.
