richard kim, lynn, george pack ner from "the new yorker" magazine and sylvia.n days until the election there's still some room for some movement in the polls i think there's still some room to move for people who are undecided. we're talking about that tiny cohort, small sliver of the electorate who are undecided. we're talking about when we left what effect that has on our politics. this is something i think about a lot as someone who is quite ideological, quite committed to a very specific world view who thinks a lot about politics. my vote is taken for granted and the vote that politicians are catering towards, particularly down the stretch, are these folks. when they don't seem to have a kind of coherent, fixed conception of what they even want, how does that play itself out in what actual policies we get? >> right. we were talking about ideology and romney moving to the middle and i was teasing a little bit and saying i have this result that was going to blow your mind. we've been tracking these people over the whole year. we asked them to place ideologi.

i am joined by richard kim, my colleague.die tailor, contributor to our sister website, amy davidson, senior editor at "the new yorker." author of the close read blog at "the new yorker".com which has been absolutely essential reading for the last few months. the close read at "the new yorker".com. michael moynihan. cultural news editor at newsweek and "the daily beast." fantastic to have you all here. thursday's debate between vice president joe biden and paul ryan was a substantive contest between two men who were well briefed and on their game. conventional wisdom was twofold. biden needed to calm democrats. he needed to set the stage for his boss to regain his footing during his second debate with mitt romney this tuesday. i think biden accomplished that mission. i think what made the difference was that biden was aggressive, uninhibited with preoccupation by preserving his own image and adept at leveraging his stature. the single best exchange biden wasted no time for calling out ryan for his apparent hypocrisy when it c

back to you, richard. >> all right, kim, thank you so much. mitt romney has cancelled stops in virginia tomorrow. opting to go to ohio, enstead. and the president is heading to florida, a day earlier than scheduled. now, back to "lock up." >> announcer: due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >> narrator: a repeat offender smuggles contraband into the jail. >> my case is considered high profile because the i.q. was low celebrity. >> narrator: an inmate. >> he might as well do himself a favor and kim himself. >> narrator: a prescription pill epidemic takes it toll. drug use on the inside can keep another inmate from leaving jail. >> please don't keep me from going home on friday. >> if you don't go home on friday, i didn't keep you from going home. you did. >> narrator: officials are concerned over one inmate's growing influence. >> you identify got a reputation of leading these young guys to do all kinds of stuff. it's a reputation you've got to live down. >> narrator: a source of pride for louisville, kentucky has been the

kim lawtoneports on the nones and politics, what their influence might be in this year's election and on religion and politics in the years ahead. >> reporter: in the battleground state of ohio, volunteer monette richards is making calls for state and local democratic candidates. she wants to encourage liberal voters, and especially those who support abortion rights, to get out to the polls next month. >> we get the government that we deserve because we get the government that we vote for. and right now it's not good enough for me. >> reporter: richards is part of a growing force on the political scene. the 46 million americans who say they are not affiliated with a religion. their numbers have been rising rapidly, and they are heavily democratic. >> something like a quarter of people who identify with the democrats or lean towards the democratic party are in this unaffiliated category. that's a lot of votes. that's a major group. >> reporter: professor john green directs the bliss institute at the university of akron and has long studied the relationship between religion and politics. >> religious affiliation has often been closely associated with the major party coalitions, with the democrats and the