Lindsay Kulla is an informed voter.

She watched all three presidential debates and the vice presidential debate. She has talked with friends and professors about the election.

Kulla, 20, is also an undecided voter. The College of Communication junior has followed the election with all the enthusiasm of an ardent Republican or Democrat, but she still does not know which presidential candidate to choose in the Nov. 2 general election.

"I'm never going to feel decided," she said. "I'm waiting for one of them to say something that will really make me want to vote for them."

Kulla is one of the few voters still undecided with two weeks remaining until the election. A Zogby poll from Oct. 18 found that only 7 percent of voters are still undecided.

Even rarer, according to John McAdams, associate professor of political science, is the fact she is an informed undecided voter.

"Undecideds tend to be people who are relatively ill-informed and relatively apolitical," McAdams said.

He said younger voters like Kulla sometimes have a difficult time choosing a candidate for various reasons.

"I would expect younger voters to be more likely to be undecided," McAdams said.

One possible reason for this, he said, is because young voters tend not to have a strong party affiliation, which usually builds over time.

Even among those without strong ties to a political party, undecided voters are few and far between this year, according to McAdams.

"There are fewer undecideds this year," he said. "There's a lot of polarized people in this country."

The polarization of the nation is a reflection of the opposite views the candidates have on some issues, which can be a source of frustration for undecided voters.

"There are issues that they're on complete opposite ends of," Kulla said. "There'll be something Kerry says that I agree with 100 percent, (and) then Bush will say something I agree with 100 percent."

Katie Kisiolek, a 19-year-old sophomore in the College of Business Administration and an informed undecided voter, agrees the candidates appear to be on extreme sides of many issues while she falls somewhere in the middle.

"I think for the most part I agree with different parts of each candidate," Kisiolek said.

The upcoming election will be the first in which many college students are eligible to vote. Along with developing ties to one party over time, some undecided students think the voting experience in general will make decisions easier in the future.

"After you make one decision, you can base the next ones on how you made the last one," said Dustin Peterson, sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Like Kulla and Kisiolek, Peterson, 19, considers himself to be an informed voter. He said he watched most of the debates and has read articles about the election online, but remains undecided.

Both Kulla and Peterson said viewing the debates has not strongly influenced them to vote for one candidate over another. Kulla said she felt "lost" during the first debate, while Peterson said the debates did not make him identify with either candidate's stance on the issues discussed.

Kisiolek felt a different emotion while watching the debates.

"I think they frustrated me overall because it seemed like a lot of the time they were just bashing each other instead of really addressing the issues," she said.

With such a tight race, the choices of undecided young voters are on the minds of both political parties.

"We expect a very close race, so if there are folks out there undecided that will play a big role," said Chris Lato, communications director for the Republican Party of Wisconsin. "We're a closely divided state and a closely divided nation right now."

Young voters and undecided voters could ultimately determine the race's outcome in Wisconsin and in the nation.

"They're the biggest unknowns out there," said Seth Boffeli, communications director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. "Where the new registrants and where the undecideds will go will have a big impact."

As for those few students left who are new and undecided voters, which candidate they end up voting for could be determined by a multitude of factors.

Kulla said her vote will eventually go to the candidate who she feels has a more solid plan for bringing closure to the war in Iraq.

Peterson and Kisiolek did not name one definitive issue they would base their decisions on.

"It's going to end up being whoever supports my ideas the most," Peterson said. "In the end, it'll be whichever one I have more in common with."