Skubick calls voters lazy

Polling and television are the two worst things that happened to politics, journalist Tim Skubick told students Monday.

Rather than using intuition, Skubick said polling has forced politicians to look at data and make decisions. Television, he added, has made things too easy for politicians and voters.

“If you make a decision on who to vote for (by television commercials), then do our democracy a favor and don’t vote,” he said.

Television has made it easy for politicians to reach the most amount of people with the least amount of effort, said Skubick, anchor of Michigan Public Broadcasting’s “Off the Record,” which airs on WKAR in Lansing.

Skubick, who wrote a book with the same name as his show, spoke to students in political science assistant professor Bill Ballenger’s PSC 300: Michigan Politics and Elections class.

“We’ve forced politicians to become performers,” he said.

Skubick said image is everything in politics because voters don’t take the time to find out who the candidates are and what they stand for.

“Voters are lazy,” he said. “They do not do their homework.”

Skubick discussed several topics, including the 2006 gubernatorial race, voter apathy and Michigan’s economy.

If politicians addressed issues straight on, he said, younger people might be less apathetic about politics.

“It has to start in our own individual families,” he said.

Skubick also talked about the ins and outs of his job. He pointed out to students it was his job as a journalist to ask tough questions – the ones ordinary people want to ask but can’t.

He also told students there’s really not much elected officials can do about the state’s economic woes.

“It’s grossly unfair of us as voters to hold a governor or a president responsible for the economy,” he said.

Students in Ballenger’s class said they were excited about Skubick’s visit. Bay City senior Carrie Woloshik said she normally watches his television show and is reading his book for class.